Planning for public transport and road freight infrastructure improvements at local municipal level: lessons learnt through the City of Umhlathuze public transport amenities study

Abstract

Paper presented at the 30th Annual Southern African Transport Conference 11-14 July 2011 "Africa on the Move", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.The City of uMhlathuze is a Local Municipality that forms part of the uThungulu District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal with approximately 80% of the public transport trips within the District has one end in this Local Municipality The Local Municipality comprises Richards Bay with one of the busiest ports in the country; attracting a rising number of freight trucks. The City of uMhlathuze encountered a situation where the Integrated Transport Plan prepared at District level, did not have sufficient detail to inform its development strategy and address transportation challenges, in particular concerning public transport and road freight facilities. One of the challenges was that a number of the public transport facilities in the City of uMhlathuze form part of retail commercial developments located on either leased land from the Municipality or prlvate land, this placed limits on options for expansion of the facilities. Another challenge was the lack of appropriate truck stop facilities, as a result, trucks would park at any open area in the Empangeni and Richards Bay CBD including at rankslterminals. The Public Transport Amenities Study was undertaken by the City of uMhlathuze to address these challenges through investigation of the challenges at the rankslterminals, an assessment of the condition and accessibility of public transport stops, establishing the demand for truck stop facilities and developing conceptual proposals for improvements. The process followed was akin to that of statutory transport plans, with the added level of conceptual proposals developed through substant~acl onsultation with private sector stakeholders.