From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is the Real Economy Report.

The city of Johannesburg unveiled its new-look commuter shelters in Randburg and Alexandra, earlier this month. The shelters are part of the city’s plans to integrate public transport to make walking, cycling and public transport the mode of choice by 2040. Joanne Taylor has the story.

Joanne Taylor:
The shelters are made of a fibreglass composite material, are biodegradable and have no trade-in value. Each shelter comprises one complete mould which cannot be taken apart. The shelters are equipped with LED lights and 200 (of the total 1 400) will be powered by photovoltaic power, not only for lighting but also for advertisements, which will help fund the shelters.

Designer Brian Steinhobel explains the design features of the commuter shelters.

Designer Brian Steinhobel:
The choice of material was very critical, as was the whole design. We’re in South Africa, not Europe and we didn’t want a Eurocentric solution so the material and the way the shelter is designed is very important in terms of how it serves the commuter. This material is a composite material, which is a fancy name for fiberglass – difference being that it has woven cloth inside it so it’s structurally very sound. One of the most important points is that is has no trade-in value – steel, aluminium, glass is Eurocentric design shelters, there’s no use having a bus shelter from Dusseldorf in Johannesburg, or from Frankfurt, so we’ve got the design being appropriate for the South African condition, is very important. It is a monochoc design, which this composite material allows us to achieve, so meaning it’s one shot – not a separate bench that can be taken home or steel that can be trade-in or rust. Composites are a very nice, soft to the touch material, very rugged, and many other virtues. The choice of material is very important for our solution to the commuter shelter

The design requirements are very broad, there’re many good reasons why this design exists as it does, theft and vandalism, it has to last 20 years. The design has virtues of giving a person dignity to sit in a decent seat, with proper shelter from the sun or the rain and, to a degree, the wind. A design like this is an orchestration of multi-faceted amount of elements that must be tied together in a solution that primarily we have to keep the objective always in mind. That’s to serve the commuter on the streets.  This gives them a place of rest, of shelter, of dignity.

Not all of them but quite a few will be photovoltaic powered, in other words ‘off the grid’ in terms of powering the necessary advertisements. Certainly from an advertising point of view and a commuter point of view and from a lighting point of view, for example, you can sit and read a newspaper at night or a magazine in dull conditions in the evening. Many of these features had to be built-in, so although its seemingly simple form, I’d like to think that it’s inspired by the shade that an acacia tree brings, its got reference to an acacia tree in terms of its form, its also got reference to a cave, which is a fundamental gene, we have to retract back into a cave to be sheltered. You could say it’s a portable cave so there are many design features which are there for very deep reason. An appropriate piece of design is most likely, in any case around the world, a combination of compromises. There’s no one size fits all or one ideal situation. We have tried to cater for the design for the South African condition which is appropriate to our weather, our crime, our many commuters on the street that don’t have a place to sit at the moment.

The features are many. Not all of them but quite a few will be photovoltaic powered, in other words ‘off the grid’ in terms of powering the necessary advertisements. Shelters have the necessary evil of advertising, which helps pay for it. We certainly wouldn’t have them without advertising. Advertising is fun and it gives you something to look at if you’re stuck in traffic. Certainly from an advertising point of view and a commuter point of view and from a lighting point of view, for example, you can sit and read a newspaper at night or a magazine in dull conditions in the evening. Many of these features had to be built-in, so although its seemingly simple form, I’d like to think that it’s inspired by the shade that an acacia tree brings, its got reference to an acacia tree in terms of its form, its also got reference to a cave, which is a fundamental gene, we have to retract back into a cave to be sheltered. You could say it’s a portable cave so there are many design features which are there for very deep reasons and we will be issuing some press on all of the motivational reasons, but you also have to remember that an appropriate piece of design is most likely, in any case around the world, a combination of compromises. There’s no one size fits all or one ideal situation. We have tried to cater for the design for the South African condition which is appropriate to our weather, our crime, our many commuters on the street that don’t have a place to sit at the moment.

Shannon de Ryhove:
Other news making headlines this week: Transnet teams up with the CSIR to raise its yearly R&D spend to R150-million; Manufacturers warn of margin squeeze, with a call for action on power prices; and South Africa’s consulting engineers set up a R1-million anticorruption ‘war chest’.

State-owned freight logistics group Transnet has established a new research and development unit that will be housed at the Innovation Hub, in Pretoria, and which has entered a three-year collaborative research partnership with South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

Transnet CEO Brian Molefe

South African manufacturers have again warned that they are facing a serious margin squeeze, owing to their limited ability to pass on surging input costs and have called on government to prioritise policies that could place them on a more competitive footing.

Pan-African Investment and Research Services economist Dr Iraj Abedien

Consulting Engineers South Africa is establishing an initial R1-million anticorruption “war chest”, which its plans to use in the coming months to take legal action against municipalities and private companies that it suspects of having acted illegally in the award, or securing of contracts.

Consulting Engineers South Africa president Naren Bhojaram

That’s Creamer Media’s Real Economy Report. Join us again next week for more news and insight into South Africa’s real economy.