Abstract:
The eThekwini Municipality’s (EM) vision is to be Africa’s most caring and liveable city by 2030. In support of this vision from a transport perspective, considering that the majority of commuters within EM depend on public transport (PT) for their livelihoods, the eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA) is taking great strides to better understand, plan and provide PT. This in turn means that relevant data is required. The Public Transport Planning (PTP) branch of the ETA has identified that whilst sufficient relevant PT-related data exists, innovative methods for better integrating and representing this data is required so that certain important PT-related tasks can be undertaken easier and quicker yet to a high level of confidence. To this end, the PTP branch has begun using spatial representation of PT data. Spatial mapping and representation of data is in itself an activity requiring specialised tools and skills, and is quite complicated for professionals who are not proficient with Geographic Information System (GIS) software. The PTP branch therefore resorted to using the ETA’s Smart Portal, a GIS-based tool developed by the ETA, to display PT datasets simultaneously with datasets of other departments of the ETA and/or other service units of EM, thus facilitating the undertaking of PT-related tasks in a more informative and efficient manner
Description:
Papers Presented at the 2018 37th Southern African Transport Conference 9-12 July 2018 Pretoria, South Africa. Theme "Towards a desired transport future: safe, sufficient and affordable".