Trips on Rea Vaya's inner city circular route will be free for four days, from 20 to 23 October. The route goes from Chancellor House to the Joburg Art Gallery and back.

Constitutional Court station in Joubert Street

IT is Car Free Day on Wednesday, 20 October and what better way to observe the event than with a free trip on Rea Vaya.

This month, the Bus Rapid Transit system is offering commuters trips at no cost on its C3 inner city route from 20 to 23 October as part of the City's Transport Month celebrations.

The trip, from Chancellor House to the Joburg Art Gallery, usually costs R3,50. Along the way, the buses pass the University of the Witwatersrand, where the Origins Centre is also located, the Joburg Theatre Complex and Constitutional Hill in Braamfontein, all attractions that are a mere hop-on-hop-off away.

These free services will be ideal for students wanting to acquaint themselves with the inner city route as it runs directly in front of the university and past many of the residences and flats in Braamfontein and Hillbrow.

"We are hoping that everyone will become au fait with the Rea Vaya inner city services," Joburg's executive director for transport, Lisa Seftel, said at the launch of Transport Month on 28 September.

The City is also embarking on an extensive awareness drive among students to increase patronage of the C3 service. The inner city route was launched in July to enhance the existing trunk and feeder route services but is under-utilised.

In other Transport Month initiatives, Rea Vaya and the transport department have been busy engaging with commuters throughout the month of October in all seven regions. On the agenda are road safety and transport values; storm water upgrades; and improving public transport.

"It is about how we can improve the services. How we can do more together," the portfolio head for transport in the City, Rehana Moosajee, said at the launch.

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