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Transcript of Piotrans
WRITTEN BY JACK SLATER
IN 2006 Johannesburg City took the decision to become a fully-fledge Bus Rapid Transit system called Rea Vaya.
CATCHING BUSES AND
CHANGING A NATION
Rea Vaya reached a
major milestone in
February this year
when the Taxi Operators
Investment Companies formally
took control of the BRTs Bus
Operating Company- PioTrans
(PTY) LTD. It was another first
in this landmark project. Rea
Vaya is the first BRT system in
South Africa, in the beginning
taxi operators, Metrobus and
other public transport operators
worked alongside each other
in a congested, mostly informal
landscape. With Rea Vaya
many private vehicle users and
switched to the bus.
Something only a South African would appreciate, having a safe
public transport system that everyone can use has made a significant
change for every road user.
The main challenges for public transport in Johannesburg was
that the poor lived far away from work and had to spend more money
on transport, congestion and roads resulted in longer travel time,
congestion in the inner, lack of access for disabled commuters that
the government historically had put very little money towards public
transport, and problems with regulation of the large and broad based
taxi industry.
Rea Vaya changed all of that.
It has been a huge transformation and has triggered a massive shift
among the members of the informal transport sector by developing
and providing viable, practical and above all safer solutions.
Taxi related deaths as recently as the last decade had peaked
with thousands of people being killed either through gun violence
The main challenges for public transport in Johannesburg was that the poor lived far away from work and had to spend more money on transport, congestion and roads resulted in longer travel time, congestion in the inner city, lack of access for disabled commuters that the government historically had put very little money towards public transport, and problems with regulation of the large and broad based taxi industry.
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PIOTRANS
Benefitting from high level buy ins and partnerships especially from the historically violent and turbulent mini-bus taxi industry, it made its implementation possible and began as a starter service with 40 buses on 30 August 2009.Since then things have improved significantly and been well received by commuters.
Endeavour Magazine | 45
The ideal business partner. Flexible in business, rigid in efficiency.If a versatile, hard-working van is what you need, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter family fits the bill. You can choose between the Panel Van, the 518 Extra Long Chassis, the Freight Carrier and the People Mover, but you’ll find some items non-negotiable: the timeless Mercedes-Benz virtues of quality, durability, reliability and efficiency. All our vans, of course, are safe, economical and make
ingenious use of interior space, whether for passengers or cargo. The Sprinter is the perfect vehicle to carry just about anything you might need to transport, and now also comes standard with a 2-year / unlimited mileage warranty. For more information, contact your Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicle dealer, telephone 0800 133 355 or visit www.mercedes-benz.co.za/vans
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Replace With New Ad
Investment Companies, owned by over 300 taxi operators are
now in charge of PioTrans LTD and have a 12 year Bus Operating
Contract- they also scrapped 585 taxis in order to be able to become
shareholders of the company.
Big Developments134 buses have been sourced from Mercedes-Benz South Africa’s
(MBSA’s) Sandown Motor Holdings who won the tender earlier this
year. This is to supply the necessary size for the roll-out of the 18 km
Phase 1B of Johannesburg’s Rea Vaya bus rapid transit (BRT) system.
Valued at more than R300-million the Rea Vaya phase 1B covers
ten stations, passing through Noordgesig, New Canada, Pennyville,
Bosmont, Coronationville, Newclare, Westbury, Westdene, Melville,
Auckland Park and Parktown.
“MBSA’s bus and coach unit will supply the bus chassis for the
134-unit requirement, divided into ninety-three 12 m feeder buses,
and forty-one 18 m raised floor, articulated buses to be used on the
trunk routes,” says MBSA commercial vehicles bus and coach brand
manager Dr Dirk Ansorge.
Marcopolo South Africa will
supply the bus bodies. Local
content on the bus bodies is
expected to exceed 80%.
MBSA bus and coach
national sales manager Shane
Henry notes that South African
content on the bus chassis will
reach around 30% by volume,
and include local components
such as tyres, wiring looms and
fuel tanks.
The bus chassis and power
trains come from Brazil, with
local completely knocked-down
assembly taking place at MBSA’s
East London plant.
Rea Vaya will create 40
PIOTRANS
between drivers and gangs or
through accidents caused by
vehicles that were not road-
worthy. For South Africans this
had become an unfortunate way
of life. “Taxi Violence” became
the dirty secret of the SA roads
that very few people outside of
the country knew about or could
believe. It had reached a point
where dozens of people dying in
a taxi crash, due to the taxi having
folded cardboard as brakepads
or being overloaded with up
to thirty people crammed into
one mini-bus, no longer made it
to the news. A solution was in
desperate need.
Nine Taxi Operators
additional jobs on the bus line and the– all of them wheelchair friendly
– will use clean-burning Euro 5 engines and feature fully automatic
Voith transmissions. The first Rea Vaya Phase-1B unit is expected to
be completed this month.
“We will start assembling the chassis and releasing them to the
body builder from the first week in June through to the second half
of October,” says Ansorge. “The plan is to assemble up to ten chassis
per week.”
The vehicles are expected to have a life cycle of 12 years.
Sandown Motor Holdings has also offered the City of Johannesburg
a maintenance, driver training and fleet management proposal, which
is still under discussion.
Henry believes Sandown Motor Holdings won the contract to
supply the buses as it offered a “good price and a very attractive
delivery schedule”. Sandown is also a Level 2 black economic-
empowered company.
By providing traffic solutions within the major cities of South
Africa Rea Vaya have opened up the gates to a new level of economic
prosperity.
Valued at more than R300-million the Rea Vaya phase 1B covers ten stations, passing through Noordgesig, New Canada, Pennyville, Bosmont, Coronationville, Newclare, Westbury, Westdene, Melville, Auckland Park and Parktown.
PIOTRANS
0027 11 988 6558
WWW.PIOTRANS.CO.ZA
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