The public is invited to participate in the naming or renaming of Rea Vaya stations. The process began with a councillor tour of the facilities.

A station on Rissik Street and Harrison Street in the inner city

COUNCILLORS were taken on a whirlwind tour of Rea Vaya's Phase 1B trunk route in the first step of naming 16 new bus stations and confirming the names of seven existing ones.

The tour was to familiarise the ward councillors and councillors on the section 79 portfolio committee on transport with the stations ahead of public meetings being held.

The community participation process begins immediately and runs until Monday, 26 March, when names proposed by the public will be presented to the portfolio head of transport, Rehana Moosajee, for approval. Proposed names have to comply with the City's Policy on the Naming and Renaming of Streets and other Public Places.

Moosajee says councillors from wards 54, 60, 68, 69 and 82 were shown the infrastructure so they can hold public meetings in their wards and encourage residents to participate in the naming and possible renaming.

"The station naming tour gives elected representatives of the City an opportunity to work with their communities to name Rea Vaya stations that are unnamed and, in the instance of certain stations that were named in the run up to the World Cup, to confirm names for those stations," she explains.

WORLD CUP

Rea Vaya's first phase was opened in the run up to the football Word Cup in 2010, and the City named bus stations in correlation to their geographic area or feature. However, that approach was only used because there wasn't enough time to engage the public because of the World Cup rush.

Moosajee says the City needs communities to get involved in the naming or renaming of stations in their neighbourhoods as a sign of taking ownership.

"We would like to appeal to residents of the city in the wards 68, 82, 69, 60 and 54 to get involved in the public meetings that their councillors are going to be calling so that they can make decisions on what these stations should be named and that they can have a sense of ownership of Rea Vaya in the neighbourhoods."

Names for the new stations have already been proposed by the City's naming committee, she says, but communities can either endorse those names or reject them altogether and propose alternative names. "The names are for transit infrastructure so we want to be sure that those names help commuters, both citizens of and visitors to our city, to locate themselves in relation to strategic landmarks in the city."

She says the toured route is significant in that it connects educational and healthcare facilities and links communities with the universities of Johannesburg and Wits, and the Helen Joseph and Rahima Moosa hospitals.

"We think it's an exciting opportunity for members of the community to have a say in relation to what these stations should be called because Rea Vaya infrastructure is very much a part of Johannesburg's streetscape and will continue to be for a long time to come."

STATIONS

Between Phase 1A and 1B, 16 stations have to be named and seven station names have to be either confirmed or changed. "The intention is that some of these stations will be opening in advance of the launch of Phase 1B, including the one down Rissik Street and Harrison Street in the inner city."

Joburg's portfolio head of transportation Rehana Moosajee

Moosajee says the intention is for those two stations to be operational by the end of the current financial year. By mid-2013 Rea Vaya's Phase 1B will be fully operational. "The infrastructure is pretty much ready. It's only the procurement of buses and ensuring local content in procurement of buses and the negotiations with potentially affected operators from the taxi and bus industries."

During the tour, she said she was excited by the amount of work that had taken place in the last few months in Auckland Park, Coronationville, Milpark, Newclare and Industria, and on the Soweto Highway. "There is substantial progress in the roll out of Rea Vaya infrastructure on the Phase 1B route."

Phase 1B starts in Thokoza Park in Soweto and goes to Parktown and the Library Gardens in the CBD, via Noodgesig, Pennyville, Bosmont, Westbury, Westdene, Rossmore, Auckland Park, Milpark and Constitution Hill.

Moosajee says the City envisages an integrated public transport system where all modes of transport coexist. "We are seeing areas where the Metrorail service, Rea Vaya, Gautrain and the minibus taxis are converging so that people can move from one mode to another. Our vision for Johannesburg is to have a people-centred, dignified public transport system that puts public transport first, and that encourages … people to walk and cycle.

"Importantly, public transport infrastructure is not for itself but it is about the dignity and the mobility of our people, which is extremely important to the economy. For the wheels of the economy to keep moving, the transit system has to respond."

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