The Tshwane metro on Tuesday showed the media what its purple and green Tshwane rapid transit (TRT) system stations would look like, while it also unveiled the name of the new R3.5-billion bus system: A Re Yeng, or Let’s Go.

The name was selected following a public participation process.

Speaking at the newly constructed Hatfield station, situated right next to the Gautrain station, mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa said the city had kept to the deadlines it had set itself.

“We remain on track and we are confident we are going to deliver.”

City of Tshwane strategic executive director transport Lungile Madlala said the TRT system’s inception phase would be operational by April 2014.

The inception phase would run from Nana Sita street, past University road to the suburbs of Arcadia and Hatfield, looping back to University road.

Madlala said this would be followed by the simultaneous construction of lines 1 and 2. Line 1 would run from the central business district (CBD) to Rainbow Junction and on to Kopanong, with line 2 to split from the inception phase at Jorissen street, moving into Lynnwood road, the Atterbury area and on to Mamelodi.

The entire system was set for operation by 2016 or 2017.

Ramakgopa said the city had already spent around R330-million of its TRT budget.

The project was due to employ 11 000 people at the height of construction.

Ridership for the inception phase was likely to ramp up to around 10 000 passengers a day, noted Madlala, while the entire system was expected to carry around 127 000 people a day upon completion.

The tender to procure the 154 buses required for the entire system, to be delivered in tranches, would be issued in April, she added. The new tender process would see the newly formed bus operating company acquire the buses and not the City of Tshwane, a matter that had to be corrected by scrapping the previous tender process.

The buses would be low-floor entry vehicles, noted Ramakgopa, which would differ from Johannesburg’s raised-floor entry buses. A raised-floor bus was only able to pick up commuters from elevated bus stations.

Ramakgopa said the choice of low-floor buses was not necessarily a popular one, but that it would allow the buses to merge with and operate in existing city traffic.

Madlala emphasised that Tshwane’s existing metropolitan bus service would not be replaced by A Re Yeng, noting that a recapitalised, but rationalised bus fleet would still operate in the city on routes not covered by the TRT system.

She said the City of Tshwane was in the process of procuring 120 buses for the general fleet.

Station Look and Feel
The Hatfield station's style, based on what the City of Tshwane terms the “Retro Tram concept”, would be used for A Re Yeng stations outside the CBD. The style was evocative of the city’s old tramlines, but with a contemporary design.  

Station would be located in the middle of the road, between driving lanes, similar to Johannesburg’s rapid transit Rea Vaya system, eliminating the need for a bus station on either side of the road.

In total, 51 stations would be built, from Kopanong, in Soshanguve, to Mamelodi, along 80 km of road.

At peak times, A Re Yeng trunk services would operate every three to five minutes, with feeder services running at 15-minute intervals.