Johannesburg - The Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are teaming up in an attempt to solve the province's public transport challenges, including safety and service delivery.
The partnership was announced on Monday and a range of projects are expected to get underway within the next 10 months.
Included in the plan is the accurate mapping of minibus taxi routes in the province.
The departments also intend to develop a master plan for the roll-out of improved integrated transport services centres to house public services such as driver licensing and training centres, vehicle testing centres and transport operating licence administrative bodies.
Apart from addressing the long-standing question of accessibility of these facilities to township residents, the master plan will provide improved processes within these facilities that could see the maximum adoption of online transactions.
In addition, there will be a development of the transport norms and standards book for the province based on scientific research to help communities to hold government accountable for transport service delivery.
MEC for Roads and Transport Dr Ismail Vadi said the projects were valued at over R20 million and would enable the department to accelerate transport service delivery.
Vadi said the plan included policies and practices to improve network speed of travel and minimising of network stoppages as well as total travel time. This included public transport.
"The demand for travel in our province is increasing at an unprecedented rate," Vadi said. "This is mainly due to an increasing population. The 2016 mid-year population estimates the provincial population at 13.5 million, implying that an additional 2.5 million people have since been added to the province since the last census."
Pretoria News