Moving a metro

The eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA) is the directorate mandated to provide high-quality infrastructure and public transport services that are reliable, efficient, user-friendly and affordable to the citizens of eThekwini. The programmes implemented by the ETA are more broadly informed by the City’s Integrated Development Plan, with a particular focus on three pillars. The first pillar is Plan 2 – Economic Development and Job Creation, which looks to develop a logistics plan, the City-port partnership, as well as the Dube TradePort implementation Strategy. The second is Plan 3 – Quality Living Environment, aimed at addressing the service backlog, infrastructure asset management and the implementation of an effective public transport plan for eThekwini. Finally, Plan 4 – Safe, Healthy and Secure Environment is targeted at making the city safe from crime in public transport, safe while travelling on the road, and safe at public transport facilities.

Below are some of the key highlights and achievements of the ETA during the course of the 2021/22 financial year.

Public Transport Licensing Office

The premises of the long outstanding Public Transport Licensing Office were finally secured after many delays to secure a suitable building. The building was refurbished and the ETA staff performing the Rank Management System functions moved into the new offices in the 2021 financial year. The delivery of this office will resolve a long-outstanding commitment to bring public transport licensing closer to the eThekwini public transport operators who had to travel all the way to Pietermaritzburg to apply for their operating licences. The office will serve as a one-stop shop for public transport operating licensing and this will be a collaboration between the ETA, Metro Police and the KZN Department of Transport.

New Traffic Signals Design

An in-house innovative design of a new traffic controller bracket and uninterruptable power supply cabinet was fabricated to reduce theft and vandalism of traffic signal components.

Road Safety Plan (RSP): 2022-2026

This is eThekwini’s fourth RSP and it coincides with the second UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030. The UN General Assembly Resolution 74/299 declared a Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030, with the target being to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50% during this period. As the world embarks on the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety, governments and global stakeholders must choose between ‘business as usual’ – in the hopes that this will be enough to significantly reduce the number of deaths – or acting boldly and decisively, using the tools and knowledge gained from the last Decade of Action to change course.

Successes and awards

eThekwini Safe to School, Safe to Home – Scholar Transport Programme (2019 to 2022): The programme addressed two key issues: reducing learner transport fatal and serious injuries, and improving the attitude and behaviour of learner transport drivers.

The programme provided a step-bystep approach to education, awareness and behaviour change with a focus on providers of scholar transport, school management teams, learners, local and regional government officials, enforcement agencies, parents, and communities.

A total of 185 scholar transport drivers from the South Durban region were trained in both theoretical content focusing on the major road safety risk factors and in practical driving skills with the use of driving simulators. The drivers were also trained in firefighting, vehicle maintenance and first aid.

The project provided first-aid kits, fire extinguishers and warning triangles, to improve the drivers’ compliance with the National Land Transport Act requirements. Tracking devices sponsored by Netstar were fitted to 106 project vehicles in June and July 2021, to record and monitor movements such as speeding, harsh acceleration or braking, which are not appropriate driving behaviours for drivers of learner transport. The aim of the monitoring period was to incentivise drivers to limit the number of transgressions per kilometre travelled, and good driving was rewarded with fuel vouchers, with an ultimate prize of a Toyota Quantum.

Eight drivers who recorded no transgressions and drove over 4 000 km in the six-month monitoring period were declared finalists for the prize, and the main prize was won in a lucky draw at the final prize giving ceremony by Nondumiso Hlengwa.

Awareness relating to the safety of learner transports, parents and caregivers will be actively promoted in the schools where these drivers provide transport, and behaviour and risk factors will continue to be monitored.

ETA/SARF Road Safety Primary Schools’ Poetry and Prepared Speech Competition:

The ETA, in partnership with the South African Road Federation (SARF), held its annual poetry and prepared speech competition on 3 June

2022 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. This was the fourth annual event since its inception in 2018.

The main objectives of this competition are to support and complement the national curriculum statement on road safety education and delivery in schools, promote good road safety practices among learners in primary schools and raise road safety public awareness among primary school learners. In 2019, for the first time, the competition extended the invitation to learners with special educational needs (LSEN) with the understanding of the importance of road safety education to all primary school learners irrespective of their educational barriers or needs.

Invitation to participate was published through eThekwini media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, the municipal website and publications. The theme of the competition was ‘Road Safety concerns affecting my community and the possible solutions’. The competition had three categories, namely: Category 1 for grade 2 and 3 (poetry), Category 2 for grade 4 to 7 (prepared speech), and Category 3 for LSEN (poetry).

All participating schools were invited to a teachers’ workshop held on 18 April 2022. At this workshop, a presentation thoroughly explained the rules and regulations of the competition. The teachers were also given an opportunity to seek clarities on matters that were unclear. The deadlines of all the entries and build-up activities leading to the awards’ event were reviewed and agreed upon.

For this 2022 event, SARF again sponsored an amount of R30 000 for the prizes to be won by the winners. The ETA was responsible for the facilitation and all the necessary logistics of the competition. There were three winners from each category and the prizes were as follows for all categories: first prize – R3 000 for the learner plus R4 000 for the school; second prize – R2 000 for the learner; and third prize – R1 000 for the learner.

A total of 68 schools within eThekwini submitted entries and, after careful screening, 22 made it through to the finals which is the highest record of participants to date, 18 mainstream schools and four LSEN schools. This competition is growing each year with the number of participating primary schools increasing. This competition has also developed and maintained an excellent working relationship and partnership with the ETA, SARF, Department of Transport and Department of Education.

The standard of the winning entries was most encouraging and it is hoped that SARF would be able to continue supporting this endeavour going forward.

Speed Humps: Speed humps were installed on about 3 500 roads in the municipal area at a cost of R9 000 000 per annum. In the 2021/22 financial year, R3.5 million was budgeted for traffic calming at 22 locations, and 15 of these locations were near schools.

Success at the Fulton Awards: The ETA scooped an award and two commendation certificates for two projects at the prestigious Fulton Awards gala function held in Johannesburg in June 2022.

The Fulton Awards are hosted every two years and are a celebration of the Southern African concrete construction industry to recognise and honour excellence in the design, use and innovation in concrete.

The ETA brought home an award for the Infrastructure of under R100 million category for the Umhlatuzana River Bridge Modification and two commendation certificates for Essex Terrace/M13 Bridge Modification for the categories: Infrastructure of under R100 million and Innovation and Invention in Concrete. For the Umhlatuzana River Bridge project, the judges applauded the team for “the unique solution that overcame extensive challenges to save a large part of the bridge while causing limited damage to the existing habitat”.

The road bridge (linking Seaward Road in Clairwood with Sarnia in Pinetown) was severely damaged during the 2019 KwaZulu-Natal floods.

The Essex Terrace/ M13 Bridge infrastructure improvement project was triggered by the significant urban development in the neighbourhood, which necessitated additional lane capacity through the surrounding interchange.

In their citation, the judges indicated, “This project used several experimental solutions to support a design rationale that directly addressed sustainability concerns. It also involved some boldly progressive and effective responses to the aesthetic challenges associated with modification of an existing structure.” An exciting addition was the announcement of the 2022 winners of the Fulton Awards being entered in the American Concrete Institute’s Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards, as the projects compare favourably with the world-class projects. The annual awards gala, with the announcement of winners, was held in Dallas, Texas, in October 2022.

Focus for 2022/23

The ETA’s focus for the financial year 2022/23 is as follows:

• The operationalisation of the GO! Durban C3 Corridor.

• The new eThekwini Road Safety Plan for the period 2022-2026 has recently been completed and will guide the interventions in Durban for this period.

• Undertaking an internal review of the Integrated Public Transport Network.

• The implementation of the second access to the Port.

• The establishment of truck stop and staging areas in partnership with Transnet and the private sector.

• The refinement of the Integrated Freight and Logistics Strategy to incorporate the proposed new Port Master Plan.

• The finalisation of the Comprehensive Integrated Transport Plan for the City, to support the IDP 2021-2026.

• The compilation of business plans for the C2 and C8 corridors in partnership with PRASA and Dube TradePort, respectively.

• The installation of uninterrupted power supplies at critical intersections and replacing old-technology traffic controllers with newer traffic controllers in the Durban CBD.

• The operationalisation of a fully functional Traffic Management Centre, Integrated Fare Management System and a low-cost Public Transport Management System.

• The resurfacing of ranks in the south and north regions.

• Undertaking the design of the Inkosi Albert Luthuli and Mophela taxi ranks.

• The formalisation of e-hailing and metered-taxi operators.