the gauteng spatial development framework - Gauteng Online

ANNEXURE B: POLICY POSITION PAPERSintentions of public transport; or (c) why such development should not be consideredin public transport terms. The passenger rail planning by PRASA is adopted as the basisof the rail commuter network together with the Gautrain initiative.PRASA notes that where gaps exist in service, they may explore other options, such aslight rail, as an augmentation of their services. The majority of the GCR, both in terms ofrail lines and stations, is very well served (with the exception of the north-west sector).Many reservations exist for extending and improving these services, and the urbansystem of the GCR will respond to these as programme and budget for these improvementsemerge. Although most of the GCR is well served by rail and station infrastructure, thereis an urgent need to reinvest in rolling stock, improve the management and servicefrequency, develop station precincts into modal transfer stations and attracted associatedland uses and, most importantly, increase safety levels significantly. Public and privateinvestment must be directed to achieving this, including provincial budget.The road planning proposals embedded in the GSDF focus more on the upgrading ofexisting routes and the very selective investment in new links that reinforce the spatialstructure now sought (refer to Figure B.4.2). Typically, only new freeways that supportthe compact, complex transformed urban structure now proposed should be considered,and a far more flexible approach to reconciling regional mobility with local access requirementsis to govern design and investment in road infrastructure. Fundamentally, investment bothfrom the public and private sectors, in terms of movement infrastructure, is to be divertedinto public transport and the management and operating systems associated with it.Transport policy, too, must focus on ensuring that public transport is implemented in favourof private mobility rather than on the basis of making options and alternatives available.For too long, planning has suffered from a lack of integration between transport planningand land-use planning. Urban planning involves both disciplines and neither can dominatethe other: they are two aspects of the same issue and must be thought of in a truly integratedway rather than in the lip-service to this principle that now characterises the planningsystem. Urban activity patterns and the intensity and densities at which these occur willbe made to achieve the thresholds at which urban public transport can be made to work,and urban public transport will be directed to support these patterns. The lack of belief inthe ability of integrated public transport to work will no longer influence transportationpolicy, and soft options in favour of expanding private mobility road systems will no longerform part of this policy. In essence, however, the message is clear: the GCR has an existingbasis for a very comprehensive integrated public transport system and one which puts iton par with virtually any major world city-system. There is no reason not to proceed withconfidence that a successful, sustainable urban system can be achieved in Gauteng makinguse of best-practice international public transport policy and systems. In order to achievethis, however, it is fundamentally critical that the stakeholders operate institutional structuresto facilitate complete integration. This institution/structure would ultimately be responsibleto ensure that transport is considered in its wider context in support of the GCR. Thecurrent fragmented nature of the responsible transport entities vested in three spheres ofgovernment is a serious barrier to this integration objective.The Tshwane extended inner city area is particularly well served by an existing ring railsystem and stations. This ring rail system is to be targeted for upgrading of management,service and safety. On this basis, the inner city of Tshwane is to be made to expand, intensifyand take on a far more complex urban profile. A further rail commuter extension of servicein the northern reaches of Tshwane is to be the completion of a rail ring from Mabopaneto Hammanskraal so as to focus growth more specifically into the Mabopane andHammanskraal urban corridors. Much more capacity can be found in the rationalisationof rail commuter services in the east-west corridors serving Johannesburg city centre,particularly with regard to intensification of development in the mining land belt. The solesector of the GCR that is not well served by rail is the north-western quadrant of Johannesburg,even though this has been one of the fastest-growing areas over the past 15 years, atdensities that are too high to cope with effectively by road, yet too low and too dispersedto retrofit public transport. The public transport programme for the GCR notes the urgentneed for planning a public transport axis from Sandton to Lanseria (whether as an extensionto Gautrain, a new PRASA line, a light rail or a BRT). This axis is to form the basis of a newurban corridor that focuses on Lanseria and regionalises Diepsloot and Cosmo City(see Figure B.4.2). It also supports the inter-provincial corridor to Rustenburg. It is a mediumtermintention to implement an additional commuter rail link between Tshwane and MogaleCity and passing close by Lanseria Airport. This is to be a future high capacity urban corridorstructured on the N14 highway and rail to assist in regionalising Cosmo City, Diepsloot and147 GAUTENG SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK 2011 GAUTENG GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY