Achieving sustainability in BRT implementation in the city of Johannesburg

Abstract

Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 7-10 July 2014 "Leading Transport into the Future", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.This paper sets out the experience of the City of Johannesburg in trying to develop a more sustainable approach to the implementation of their Rea Vaya Bus Raid Transit (BRT) system. It reports on a sustainability study that was conducted to determine the key features of the third phase of their roll out. It sets out the proposed sustainability criteria and shows how these criteria were used to evaluate the previous modes and how the criteria influenced proposed changes. The paper concludes by highlighting some additional issues relating to operational sustainability that the City has experienced and how sustainability is not a once off consideration but something to constantly to be considered and strived for.