The Rustenburg Rapid Transport (RRT) project has gained traction as the Rustenburg local municipality on Wednesday unveiled the design for the Central Station – the heart of the public transport system.

The first phase of the four-phase R3-billion RRT project kicked off last year with the construction of Corridor A, which linked Tlhabane to the central business district (CBD), and was set to progress further as construction on Corridor B and Central Station started this year.

Phase 1 would encompass 45% of the entire project and was expected to be complete by the end of 2015, said RRT workstream manager for marketing and communications Sara Butchart.

The 24-month construction of the R150-million Central Station, located in the Rustenburg city centre, was expected to start in October, while construction of Corridor B would start mid-year.

The station will be the hub of the public transport operations, with seven routes running through it, and would be linked to the existing taxi rank through Fatima Bhayat street.

Construction investment for all the other RRT Phase 1 stations was expected to reach R300-million.

Corridor B would link Boitekong, on the north-east of Rustenberg, to the CBD.

On completion of Phase 1, the RRT would deliver 225 000 passenger trips a day through 13 routes, 240 bus stops and 15 bus rapid transit stations, using 268 buses.

The project team was currently finalising the specifications for the buses and expected to go out on tender by mid-year for the supply and assembly of the vehicles.

The full-service RRT, for which feasibility studies and initial planning had been completed in 2010, would be completed by 2020 to service 500 000 commuters a day through 51 routes using 854 buses.

Phase 2, which would be completed in the 2016/17 financial year, would link Kanana to Boitekong. Phase 3 would link Phokeng to Tlhabane by 2019/20, followed by the final Phase 4 roll-out to the rest of the region, including villages and rural areas.

Employees at the surrounding mines, which accounted for 55% of all employment in Rustenburg, would be serviced through four dedicated routes on completion of the entire projects.

Discussions were currently under way regarding the mines' transport requirements and possible subsidies.