Presentation Outline

1. INTEGRATED PUBLIC TRANSPORT NETWORKS IN RURAL KWAZULU-NATAL Southern African Transport Conference 2014 Andrew McKune 7 July 2014

2. Presentation Outline • Vision for Public Transport in South Africa • Public Transport in a Rural Context • KZN Integrated Public Transport Networks • Background to the Project • Typical Challenges • Methodology • Useful Notes Pending Project Outcome

3. Vision for Public Transport in South Africa • Constitution sets Public Transport (PT) as a municipal function • NLTA requires that Municipalities develop an integrated public transport design for their area, this design is called an: “Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN)” • The expectations for IPTNs are further set out in: • The Public Transport Action Plan • The Public Transport Strategy

4. Vision for Public Transport in South Africa Urban Integrated Rapid Pubic Transport Network (IRPTN) Rural Integrated Pubic Transport Network (IPTN)

5. Public Transport in a Rural Context

6. Public Transport in a Rural Context “Rural poverty is pervasive and difficult to address. Improving mobility can reduce poverty by facilitating communities to social services and facilitate their participation in political and economic activities.” (NDoT, 2007. Rural Transport Strategy for South Africa)

7. Project Location • Project commissioned and funded by KZN DoT • Development of an Integrated Public Transport Plan for three District Municipalities in KZN • Amajuba DM • Zululand DM • uMzinyathi DM

8. Project Background • IPTN is a route network, on which scheduled public transport services operate so as to provide: • Accessibility, affordability, safety and reliability for the communities served • An IPTN is NOT a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) or an Integrated Rapid Transit (IRT) system, it: • Uses conventional vehicles • Can incorporate existing services, minibus taxi, bus and rail • Does not have dedicated lanes

9. Primary Project Objectives • Develop a conceptual design which enables the following: • Provide high quality public transport services • Promote minibus taxi industry transformation and formalisation • Bring together in a coherent fashion (integrate) MBT, Bus and Rail services • Ensuring that they are all accessible via an integral and appropriate non-motorised transport (NMT) network (walking & cycling) • Improve affordability

10. Current Public Transport Challenges • KZN is estimated to have 54% of its population living in rural communities • Sparsely located rural communities • Wide spread, low density living • Decentralisedpassenger trips • Frequent service vs affordable public transport

11. Current Public Transport Challenges • Mixed urban and rural environments • Low income population • Relatively long distances • Limited financial resources • Need to achieve: • Spatial coverage • Temporal coverage • Universal access • Affordability

12. Methodology Stakeholder Engagement

13. Literature Review • Review of all relevant documentation and plans within the three DM’s and their Local Municipalities (LM’s) • Result was that information was outdated or not available • Recommendation was made to gather missing data so as to inform the conceptual design

14. Demand Surveys Current Public Transport Records (CPTR) Data Collection

15. Data Collection • Demand Survey: • 600 communities • 15 000 surveys • CPTR Survey: • 80 Public Transport Facilities • Extensive Stakeholder Engagement

16. Data Analysis • Understanding the rural community public transport needs in relation to the Status Quo of public transport services • Integrated approach • District and Local Municipalities Rural Public Transport Systems cannot be analysed independently • Use of innovative technology and systems to capture process and analyse data • Transport Information Management System

17. Database developed to form benchmark for future IPTN investigations Transport Information Management System (TRIMS)

18. Transport Information Management System (TRIMS) • Graphical representation of survey data • From District level to community level

19. Public Transport to Shops

20. Public Transport to Health Facilities

21. Public Transport to Schools/Workplace Desire lines to School Desire lines to possible places of work

22. Operational Plan • Latent Demand directs Integrated Public Transport Network

23. Operational Plan • Identify new or additional PT routes • Determine PT priority corridors

24. Empowerment Strategy • The evolution of transport towards IPTN provides the opportunity to also transform the businesses of current public transport operators through the development of a sustainable empowerment model • One key aspect of the Public Transport Strategy is to ensure the participation of current legal operators • Ensures that current operators’ services are financially and operationally sustainable • Essential to accept that the public transport operations and the industry may differ between the Districts • Widespread consultation and acceptance by all major stakeholders in each District

25. Financial Modelling • Investigate the feasibility of IPTN • Implementation • Operations • Future Growth

26. Financial Modelling – Funding Sources • Current funding available for planning and development of I(R)PTN appears to be focussed on urban municipalities • Although the Public Transport Strategy addresses public transport in both urban and rural settings, there is some concern that rural IPTN initiatives have to date not benefitted from conditional funding • What are some of the relative Conditional Grants: • Public Transport Infrastructure and Systems Grant (PTISG) - allocated to municipalities for the operational planning, business planning, infrastructure development, bus financing and transitional costs. • Public Transport Operations Grant (PTOG) - funding of the current public transport subsidised services contracts. Does not sufficiently provide for any growth in subsidised services. • Public Transport Network Operations Grant (PTNOG) - new grant that would support the operations of I(R)PTN. It is specific on the aspects that it would fund, and it will not be used as a public transport subsidy.

27. Financial Modelling – Funding Sources • Public Transport Network Operations Grant (PTNOG) - The direct operations costs for IPTN operations must be covered by fare revenue in IPTN operations, however the PTNOG can be used to fund: • maintenance costs for fixed public transport assets, • security, • ticketing services, • control centre operations, • station management, • information and marketing, • network management, • compensation for existing operators economic rights, • monitoring of IPTN services.

28. Contract Documentation

29. Useful Notes Pending Project Completion • Availability of information is essential – the current status may not be as bad as you think!!! • Listen to the community and plan with them (one day surveys versus everyday living) • Stakeholder engagement (community, industry, government) is key – create a sense of project ownership • Affordability versus accessibility is not a simple equation – benchmarking current service offering allows for the CBA down stream • Transport is an enabler and catalyst for socio-economic development and critical for our Country (and Continents) success in addressing (and in time overcoming) poverty

30. Thank you Transport