Name and Location
Rustenburg Rapid Transport (RRT) project, North West, South Africa.

Client
The municipality of Rustenburg.

Project Description
The project aims to introduce a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Rustenburg, in the North West, similar to the Rea Vaya bus rapid transit (BRT) system operational in Johannesburg, Gauteng.

Current plans envision the operation of 37 stations that will be operated along 40 km of road using 100 articulated buses to transport passengers along the main corridors. The system will also include direct and feeder-and-distribution bus systems that will link with the RRT trunk roads along the R510 and R565 roads into the city centre. A fare system will be integrated, with the same pay-as-you-go smart card allowed on all routes and services.

The project will be completed in four phases.

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

Value
A budget of more than R3-billion has been set aside by the Department of Transport (DoT).

Duration
The full-service RRT will be completed by 2020.

Phase 1 is expected to be complete by the end of 2015.

Phase 2 is expected to be completed in the 2016/17 financial year and Phase 3 by 2019/20.

Latest Developments
The Rustenburg local municipality unveiled the design for the Central Station – the heart of the public transport system – on March 27.

The first phase of the four-phase R3-billion RRT project started in 2012, with the construction of Corridor A, which links Tlhabane to the central business district (CBD), and is set to progress with the construction on Corridor B and Central Station, which will start in the middle of the year.

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

The 24-month construction of the R150-million Central Station, located in the Rustenburg CBD, is expected to start in October, while construction of Corridor B will start in the middle of the year.

Seven routes will pass through the station and it will be linked to the existing taxi rank through Fatima Bhayat street.

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

Corridor B will link Boitekong, in the north-east of Rustenberg, to the CBD.

The project team is finalising the specifications for the buses and are expected to go out on tender by midyear for the supply and assembly of the vehicles.

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

Phase 2, which will be completed in the 2016/17 financial year, will link Kanana to Boitekong. Phase 3 will 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, will be serviced through four dedicated routes on completion of the entire project.

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

Key Contracts and Suppliers
The Rustenburg Integrated Network joint venture (feasibility study) and SMEC South Africa/UWP/Phatwe JV (contract A - development of a public transport route).

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
RTT communications manager Sara Butchart, email sara@rustenburgrapidtransport.co.za.
SMEC South Africa, tel +27 014 592 2834, fax +27 014 592 5480 or email rustenburg@smec.com.
UWP Consulting Engineers, tel +27 14 597 1223 or email friedrichs@uwp.co.za.
Phatwe Consulting Engineers, Peter Mashaba, tel +27 14 594 2912, fax +27 14 597 0758 or email mashaba.phatwe@telkomsa.net.