Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Overview
Rea Vaya is the BRT network in Johannesburg. Phase 1A is operational, linking the township of Soweto to the CBD. Phase 1B is under construction
and expected to be operational during 2012. Rea Vaya is developed by City of Johannesburg.
The Rea Vaya network consists of Trunk Routes that operate exclusively on the BRT running way, Complementary routes that operate both on and
off the BRT running way, and Feeder Routes that bring passengers to the BRT for transfer.
A new Bus Operating company (PioTrans) has been formed, whose shareholders are from the minibus taxi owners displaced by the Rea Vaya
services. City of Johannesburg has entered a 12-year bus service operating contract with PioTrans, who are paid a per-kilometre fee for the provided
services.
A comprehensive, integrated ITS program supports Rea Vaya BRT. This consists of GPS-based AVM, operations control centre, traveller
information, CCTV for security and station management, scheduling package, traffic signal priority, and fare collection.
By end-2011, the AVM, Operations Control Centre, CCTV and scheduling systems are fully operational. The traveller information system and traffic
signal priority systems are expected to come on-stream during 2012-3.
An Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) system has been procured and is currently under deployment (operational by end-February 2012). The AFC is
based on EMV smart cards. Value-loading will take place at stations, vendors and banks.
The vehicle to control centre communications takes place over the local GSM network, while the stations and their devices use fibre optic cable.
The Case Study not cover any ITS implemented at the other public and commuter bus operators in the Johannesburg area (Metrobus and Putco), nor of the
commuter rail network or Gautrain.
Context
Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa. It has a population of 3.8 million people in an area of 1645 square kilometres. Johannesburg is a major
economic hub for both South Africa itself and for the African continent.
The spatial and population distribution of Johannesburg is a legacy of the apartheid era. This still has profound effects on the distribution of activities, the
travel patterns and the nature of the transport services. In addition to the legacy distribution of population by ethnic group, which is still quite pronounced,
there are three distinct features of the city which influence travel patterns and transportation supply:
While Johannesburg’s Central Business District remains a high-rise, dense focal point of activity, much of the wealth and prime activity relocated in
the post-apartheid era. The CBD is no longer the sole focal point for business, and has low levels of social activity or attractions outside of business
hours.
The north and north-eastern suburbs have developed significantly, both as an alternative investment location to the CBD in areas such as Sandton,
and with the extensive development of middle-class suburbs and gated communities. These areas are heavily auto-oriented.
The apartheid-era townships (in particular Soweto) were designed to locate the black population at a significant distance from the predominantly-
white urban centre. Only those with passes were allowed to enter these areas, mostly for work, and to then return to the townships in the evening. On
one hand, this meant that transportation links between the townships were provided entirely for the daily commute; on the other, it meant that there
was virtually no pattern of non-work travel between the suburban areas and the city centre, nor transportation services to facilitate this. While much
has changed in recent years and townships such as Soweto have experienced significant improvement in quality and opportunities, the embedded
travel patterns persist. One of the key objectives of the Rea Vaya BRT has been to overcome the transportation links imbalance.
Public transport in Johannesburg consists of the following:
72% Minibus-taxi
14% Rail
9% Bus
South Africa hosted the football World Cup in 2010. Johannesburg was the venue for two of the tournament stadia (Ellis Park, Soccer City) and a third
stadium (Orlando) was used for the opening ceremony. The first trunk line of the Rea Vaya BRT was implemented to provide transportation linkages to/from
the football venues. However, it was designed to provide a useful post-event legacy, and it forms the first phase of a broader transportation network for
Johannesburg.
Passenger transport within and to/from the townships has traditionally been provided by the minibus-taxi sector. A major restructuring has been necessary
(described below) in which impacted sectors of the minibus-taxi have formed the Operator of the Rea Vaya bus services. This was a long and difficult
process, as it cuts across many other issues and interests of the minibus-taxi sector, who have reacted strongly from time to time.
The feasibility study for BRT in Johannesburg was carried out during 2006. The City of Johannesburg Council approved Phase 1 of the BRT in November
2006, and the detailed Phase 1B in November 2008. Capital expenditure on Phase 1A has been R2.5 billion, capital expenditure on Phase 1B is expected to
be R3.5 billion.
Phase 1A:
25 kilometres BRT, 30 stations
143 buses (41 articulated on Trunk route, 102 standard on Complementary routes)
45,000 passengers/day
One new Bus Operating Company
Phase 1B (including phase 1A)
63 kilometres BRT
640 buses
Additional Bus Operating Company
Phase 1C (including Phases 1A, 1B)
The first BRT Trunk Route of Phase 1A commenced operation on 30th August 2009, with the first Complimentary and Feeder Routes being introduced
in Mach 2010 and additional routes introduced in May 2011 ahead of the World Cup in June/July 2010.
The BRT system was given the name ‘Rea Vaya’, which translates as “we are moving”.
Phase 1B construction commenced in 2010 and is expected to be operational during 2012. The initial implementation is expected to involve an additional
150 buses. Phase 1B connects significant industrial, health and educational institutions to both Soweto (Phase 1A terminus) and the CBD, and links with the
Phase 1A BRT at two locations to facilitate transfer between the two Trunk lines.
The implementation of Phase 1B will have more significant implication for transfers, and hence also for the fare collection system. In addition to the transfers
with the Phase 1A Trunk Line, there will also be transfer opportunities with PUTCO routes, with Guatrain, and with additional taxi routes.
Future phases of Rea Vaya will extend the network both north/north-east to Sandton, link Alexandra and Sandton, and also to the south of the city, with
construction foreseen during 2013-2018. The long-term objective is that 85% of Johannesburg’s population will be within 500 meters of a Rea Vaya Trunk or
Feeder service.
Trunk Line 1 (T1): Thokoza Park to Ellis Park East – 20 stops each way
T1 is the primary BRT route and provides the backbone of the Rea Vaya system.
C1 operates a cross-city service. It joins T1 and operates along the BRT alignment from Orlando Stadium to Carlton, and again connects with T1 at the
eastern terminal at Ellis Park East.
C3 is a CBD distributor service whose two terminals are at T1 stations – Chancellor House and Johannesburg Art Gallery
Feeder Route 2 (F2): Protea Glen via Thokoza Park Station – 20 stops
Currently all 5 feeder routes are in the Soweto end of the routes, connecting with T1 at Thokoza Park (F1, F2), Lakeview (F3, F5) and Boomtown (F4).
Route First Bus Last Bus Peak interval Off-peak interval Sunday intervals
(mins) (mins) (mins)
F1 0500 2200 5 30 20
F2 0500 2200 5 30 20
F3 0500 2200 15 30 20
F4 0500 2200 15 30 20
F5 0500 2200 15 30 30
Performance metrics
Rea Vaya is on a growth curve, and will continue to grow in the coming years as additional Trunk lines are opened, along with associated Complementary
and Feeder routes. In the initial years, as there is gradual adaptation of travel patterns and take-up of the Rea Vaya services, ridership and service levels will
be below system capacity. The performance metrics provided here are simply for reference, and are likely to be quickly surpassed.
Institutional Framework
The City of Johannesburg is the principal authority for public transport in Johannesburg. The Mayor’s office provides the administration for the city. Direction
and oversight of passenger transportation, including of the Rea Vaya system, are provided by the Mayoral Committee for Transport.
The Transportation Department oversees all public transport infrastructure and facilities, as well as general traffic management ad enforcement.
The City of Johannesburg owns Metrobus, the main urban bus operator. Putco is a privately owned enterprise.
The City of Johannesburg is the ultimate owner of the Rea Vaya system, being the owner of the infrastructure and the Client for the transport and support
services, which are provided under contract.
National Government provides infrastructure and systems funding, in particular for the additional system requirements for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. About
R2.5 billion has been provided during 2006-2010 through the PTIS fund.
The City funds operations from the ratepayers. However, this funding source has reduced due to the economic downturn. In response, the City is exploring
non-residential parking levies, portions of fuel levies, and PPP opportunities.
The Business Unit carries out the service design, quality control, and organization of the control room. It specifies the service to be operated by the Bus
Operating Company. It also does development and implementation of the ITS and Fare Collection systems.
The Business Unit outsources all of the operational aspects through a series of Contracts, which it then manages. These contracts include the bus operation
contract, the station management contract, and a number of contracts relating to the fare collection. The Business Unit monitors and enforces quality of
service delivery as specified in these contracts, and enforces penalties.
Operator Structure
Public Bus Operators
Municipal public bus operations in Johannesburg have been provided by Metrobus, the municipal-owned operator. Metrobus operates about 530 buses on
80 scheduled bus routes and 130 school routes. Their ridership is about 90,000 per day. Metrobus traditionally served the white areas of Johannesburg, and
did not operate into the townships such as Soweto. The taxi associations made it exceedingly clear that they would not accept expansion by Metrobus into
these areas.
PUTCO provides commuter bus services in Gauteng, Limpopo and other adjacent areas. It serves the main townships in the Johannesburg area, and was
traditionally the provider of bus services for the black communities. PUTCO currently has about 1,800 buses and carries 230,000 passengers daily.
The minibus-taxi sector is formed as Taxi Associations. The Taxi Associations affiliate to larger organizations. Top Six and GJRTC, who are participants in
Phase 1A BOC, have 106 affiliated Taxi Associations.
Gautrain is developing a network of high-quality feeder bus services, operated by Bombela (a subsidiary of RATP). The feeder buses will have the following
parameters:
The Rea Vaya service was launched before the formal establishment and handover of the BOC. This required the formation of an interim legal entity which
could receive the buses, engage and train the driving and other staff, operate the services, and meet the other services and reporting obligations. This
Special Purpose Vehicle (Clidet) was established and ownership was subsequently transferred to the TAICs as per agreement.
In the absence of the BOC, the City of Johannesburg purchased the 143 buses required for Phase 1A of Rea Vaya, and provided the necessary guarantees
to the supplier (actually, to the export credit agency) on behalf of the BOC.
The handover of the Bus Operating Company formally took place on 1st February 2011, and the BOC took the new name ‘Piotrans’. Services operated
under this arrangement. However, a lengthy strike in August/September 2011 over drivers’ pay indicates that the transition from minibus-taxi to BRT operator
has not been entirely smooth, and there may yet be more issues to be resolved.
Phase 1B
A broadly similar process will take place for the Phase 1B. However, it will be more complex as Metrobus and Putco are also involved, as well as 10 taxi
associations.
Permits or Contracts
City of Johannesburg has entered a 12-year contract with the Bus Operating Company (now PioTrans) for the operation of the Rea Vaya bus services.
The scope of responsibility for the Bus Operating Company under the Bus Operating Contract is:
Separate contracts have been put in place for the customer-facing services (stations, information, ticketing) and for various support services (station staffing,
maintenance, back-office systems). These are described in more detail below.
The feeder buses for Gautrain are procured privately under the Gautrain concession. They are operated independently of both City of Johannesburg and
Rea Vaya. Gautrain must get approval for the individual routes from City of Johannesburg, who assess them to ensure that they do not overlay the
complementary routes for Rea Vaya.
All bus service cost risks are carried by the Bus Operating Company, subject to the input cost-based mechanisms for tariff review.
All support service cost risks are carried by the relevant contractors.
The Bus Operating Company does not handle any of the revenue. Tickets are not sold on the Rea Vaya buses.
The Bus Operating Company, the Station Management Company (MTC) and the three companies associated with fare collection, tickets and cash collection
(TMT, ACE, G4S) are paid through their contracts. These payments are not linked with the revenue or fare collection system.
The basic financial agreement with the Bus Operating Company is that the City pays a fee to the BOC per kilometre required and operated on the Rea Vaya
Trunk and Complementary services. An escalation formula provides for monthly adjustments to the fee, in response to changes to costs.
The negotiated fee structure needed to ensure that the individual shareholders would receive sufficient income for each month of the contract. These
shareholders had surrendered minibus-taxis that provided daily income, and many were dependent on this cashflow. The fee rate needed to take account of
the fact that Rea Vaya service volumes and ridership would take some time to build up, potentially leaving the BOC and its individual shareholders quite
exposed to leaner income in the initial years.
A further factor that needed to be resolved was the potential tax implications arising from the individual shareholders being paid both dividends and monthly
income. A solution was reached with the South African Revenue Service.
The purchase of the vehicles was structured such that the funds for the purchase are lent to the BOC. A Debt Service Agreement has been put in place for
the payments by BOC in relation to the buses. Linked agreements establish the obligations of the City and the Export Credit Agency to the BOC.
The Debt Service payments are not directly linked to the Fare Collection system, but they are linked to the receipts from the Rea Vaya customer revenues.
Revenues from the fare collection system are channeled through a set of accounts that ensure the debt service payments are assured, and also hedged for
currency fluctuations.
The BOC does not have to pay for the use of the BRT infrastructure, nor does it have to make any financial contribution to the investment costs.
While the full ITS suite is available to Rea Vaya, Metrobus have to date only been interested in the Automatic Fare Collection aspects. This is due to the
need to be able to accept EMV cards, which the national Department of Transport has made mandatory.
Radio System
Radio communications uses a commercial GSM network.
AVLC
AVL is based on GPS, which is integrated with the GSM communications device.
The effective rollout of RTPI has been delayed as a result of the reduced reliability of the AVM/GPS data. The technical systems and devices are in place,
but have not yet been launched. This is subject to the GPS reliability being resolved. Launch is expected some time in 2012.
The technical platform for the PDA services is also in place. It remains to be activated, and this is likely to be done after the bus station RTPI system has
been launched and stabilized.
Communications
The communication system is the backbone of the landside information systems. Rea Vaya have installed their own fibre optic cables along the running way
and connecting the stations. This approach involved a higher capital expenditure upfront, but has low operating costs. As a private system, they have
avoided call and data transmission charges.
CCTV
All stations are covered by CCTV, which relays images by fibre-optic cable to the
control centre. The CCTV images are used to support both general station
management and for security.
Scheduling
system and
Interface
with the
AVLC
The ITS package
includes DIVA
scheduling
software from
which the
schedules, rosters and timetables are generated. The drivers are required to drive to schedule, the BOC controller to ensure they do so and manage any
deviations, the JRA controller supervises the BOC controllers. There are reserve buses available. These can be released from the depot or the terminal.
There is no direct linkage between the maintenance systems and the AVLC or other ITS systems.
Operations Management
The Operations Management approach is as follows:
- The Bus Operating Company (BOC) is under contract to provide the bus services
- JRA specifies clearly what the BOC should do, and includes it in the contract
The BOCs have their own control centre at their depot, it is part of the same technical
system. The BOCs carry out the frontline operations management such as dispatch
management, headway/ schedule management, communication with drivers, etc.
Operating the service according to the specification is the responsibility of the BOCs.
JRA has a controller at the BCC. The controller is primarily observing the performance
of the BOC(s). If (s)he is concerned about the operations on a particular route, this is communicated to the BOC control centre. The JRA controller does not
normally make direct interventions in the operations management, or communicate with the drivers or station staff.
MTC, the contractor for the Station Management Contract, has two of the workstations at the BCC. One is responsible for observing security issues, the
other for station management activities including passenger handling, boarding and crowd management. They view the CCTV screens on the wall and also
have information on their PCs.
Stations are managed by MTC (Metro Trading Company). At each station, there is a station ambassador, ticket seller or cashier, security, cleaners and
marshals. Security and cleaning are outsourced by MTC, all other staff are direct employees of MTC.
The AFC tender was awarded to TMT, and it is expected to be operational during 2011. TMT took over the management of the interim system in September
2010 (after the World Cup).
Tickets can be purchased either from approved vendors, or at the kiosks at the entry to the Rea Vaya bus stations.
Consequently, Rea Vaya reconsidered its approach, and decided to implement an EMV-only solution. MiFare cards will not be issued.
The AFC is designed to handle many fare structure configurations and concessions.
Value can be loaded to cards at stations, at vendors, at vending machines, and at banks.
Electronic gates and card readers will be installed at all stations. Card readers will be installed on all complementary buses, with full access control
(turnstiles).
Fare payment is based on a ‘two-tap’ approach – i.e. tap both at entry and exit. This allows the tariff to be calculated and deducted. There are penalties for
evading access control, for not tapping in or out.
The AFC system will be fully integrated with the Automatic Public Transport Management System (APTMS).
Data links with the stations have already been put in place. A fibre optic network was established during the BRT running way and station construction,
providing the data links to the Control Centre and other points.
City of Johannesburg will maintain this equipment (under Contract). BOC and MTC will have responsibility to promptly advise the City if any equipment is
faulty so that it can be repaired or replaced.
Station kiosks
Authorised vendors
All Rea Vaya Trunk Line Stations have kiosks facilitating ticket sales. These are managed through the contract with MTC.
System Integration
The Rea Vaya team has developed the System Architecture themselves. A data model is used.
Deployment
Implementation and Operational Challenges
Most of the ITS systems are already functional. The Bus Control Centre was implemented in 3 months. The Priority for buses at traffic signals is still
awaited.
Transition
It has taken about a year to get the AVM system fully bedded in and for people to start using the reports and data as intended. There was a period of 2-3
months of transition, then it became fully functional.
Post-deployment issues
Problems emerged with the GSM communications, which is particularly manifested in the AVL.
The polling is on a ‘push’ basis. The in-vehicle units should transmit their location every 30 seconds without having to be requested to transmit by the control
center. Problems arose in being able to transmit bus data (including GPS location data) over the GSM network. The network was occasionally not available
when the in-vehicle unit sought to transmit, messages were being disconnected, etc. As a consequence, the AVM system performance degraded.
On investigation, the cause was that the GSM network operator had been changing various protocols, and had not paid specific attention to the impact it
may have on Rea Vaya (which is a small part of the overall business). After some interaction, Rea Vaya was able to bring the GSM network operator and
the GPS supplier together, to each understand the other's technical approach and needs. The drivers' strike during August/September 2011 delayed the
ability to thoroughly test the amended GSM/GPS in live operations and to see whether full performance is restored.
There is now a process for dialogue ahead of changes in future, so that the GSM supplier has a heads-up on changes and can adapt in time. It is
recognized that the GSM network operator (Vodacom) will continue to change things from time to time, so Rea Vaya need their GPS supplier to be willing
and able to make changes. For the moment, Rea Vaya feel that the Service Level Agreement covers them sufficiently. Nonetheless, it is a dependency they
had not foreseen which may need to be monitored, and a lesson learned of which other ITS implementers should take note.
Background/Reference documentation
Reference documentation can be found at the Rea Vaya website at:
http://www.reavaya.org.za