Leeto la Polokwane

A HOUSEHOLD NAME FOR ALL CITIZENS IN THE CITY OF POLOKWANE

The Leeto La Polokwane (LLP) bus service has kicked into top gear to provide an Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) for the City of Polokwane. Since the announcement of the readiness of the programme on the 8th of December 2020 at Peter Mokaba Stadium, Phase 1A has been successfully implemented and has highlighted and helped address most of the teething problems associated with a project of such scale, importance and magnitude.

“The system will integrate different forms of public transport across the municipality and the Leeto la Polokwane public buses will give our commuters a scheduled system that provides safe and reliable easy access to educational institutions, healthcare facilities and employment centres,” says Executive Mayor of Polokwane, Councillor John Mpye.

Phase 1A consists of two Trunk Extension Routes and two Complementary Routes which serve the Seshego, Flora Park and Westenburg areas. The complete system will have dedicated bus lanes, the use of a travel card, bus stops, a control centre, one median station, a layover facility, trunk extension routes, and complementary routes.

The LLP will use a cashless AccountBased Ticketing (ABT) system as a fare collection method. When fully implemented the system will use preloaded travel cards. However, to increase access to the system in the early phases, the Polokwane Municipality arranged for commuters to buy paper tickets using cash or debit cards on the bus and at the following locations as part of the phasing-in of the project:

Municipal Offices on Monday-Friday, 08:00-15:00: • Civic Centre, Rates Hall (corner

Landros Mare and Bodenstein

Streets); • Seshego Zone 1 Offices (next to the Clinic); • Seshego Zone 3 Offices (next to

Kings Complex); and

Kiosks located at: • Church Street Terminus Stop 509 (corner Church and Thabo Mbeki

Streets); • Library Gardens (Hans Van

Rensburg Street); • Savannah Mall (opposite

McDonalds, Thabo Mbeki Street); and Seshego Circle Mall.

Listening to the commuters and community

The announcement of the purchase of paper tickets, particularly on buses, raised safety concerns among the community and commuters as the buses would become an easy target for criminal activity such as theft and robbery. In consideration of this outcry, Leeto La Polokwane Assistant manager for Industry Transition Malesela Maubane said the city had put a plan in place to guarantee passengers’ safety and that the buses were monitored by surveillance cameras.

“The municipality’s security services assist to ensure implementation of the overall safety and security plan as part of our integrated safety and security efforts. Besides the CCTV system, the city’s security services work with other law enforcement agencies in cases of emergencies such as robberies or shootings,” he added.

Implementing the project in phases is crucial to addressing these types of challenges in manageable chunks and timeously. An introduced solution may have its own limitations that need to be catered for.

“It is important to note that the Leeto La Polokwane transport system meets a number of critical issues for our city and its community. It integrates major transport nodes and provides affordable, safe, reliable public transport. The system reduces traffic congestion, travel time and carbon emissions, says Mr David Ramakgwakgwa, Acting Director for Roads and Transportation Services for the City of Polokwane.

“The system also provides universally accessible transport for passengers with special needs whilst reducing overcrowding and improving access to economic hubs,” he adds.

The buses have state-of-the-art features which include:

• Low floors that are level to the kerbside pavements for easy access • High-tech full air conditioning which uses less energy, making it environmentally friendly • Automatic transmission as opposed to manual • Being universally accessible • Priority seating • On-board WiFi • On-board cameras >

With passenger safety being the paramount objective of the Integrated Public Transport System, the drivers went through rigorous training in respect of the safe operation of equipment and the rules of the road as well as working with commuters. This was done in partnership with the operator, Esilux, prior to the buses taking on passengers.

The aim of starting operations along the Phase1A routes (between Flora Park, Seshego, Westenburg and the Polokwane CBD) was to test the efficiency of the planned bus operations. This also gave LLP the opportunity to test the system elements as well as to identify operations-related challenges and successes.

During the trial operations, data was collected from the bus operations together with inputs received from various stakeholders. The Leeto La Polokwane team used the information collected during the trial operations to correct and enhance the efficiency of the main operations.

The LLP also ran a two-day public participation process for universal access on the public transport system. “Universal access means improving access for those who have challenges using the system. This includes commuters in wheelchairs, the elderly, other forms of physical disabilities, pregnant women, and people traveling with small children – especially women, who are generally vulnerable in our society,” explains Ms Amor Malan, Universal Access Consultant who was involved in the public participation process for LLP.

Patricia Kgamane of Polokwane Deaf Federation also took part in the process and hailed it as a major milestone in addressing the issues facing the physically challenged when accessing and using public transport safely.

The buses will not just stop and pick up passengers anywhere. As part of commuter safety, the complete system will be characterised by the dedicated bus lanes, the use of a travel card, bus stops, a control centre, one median station, a layover facility, trunk extension routes, and complementary routes.

The dedicated lanes shorten the arrival time for the passengers by separating the Leeto buses from the normal traffic. So, buses will depart and arrive on schedule for the convenience of the commuter. The station is situated in the Central Business District (CBD) on General Joubert Street between Thabo Mbeki and Grobler Streets. The bus depot, which is situated in Seshego, Zone 8 on New Era Drive, will house 36 Leeto la Polokwane buses for Phase 1A operations.

The buses operate from the layover facility which is located near the Itsoseng Centre at the Corner of Fluoorspar and Silicon Streets.

PARTICIPATION OF THE TAXI INDUSTRY

In rolling out the Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) in the country, the aim of the National Government is to improve the status of public transport as well as to ensure that the current public transport operators are not left worse off.

In the case of the Polokwane IPTS, the affected taxi associations for Phase 1A are Seshego/Polokwane Taxi Association (SPTA), Flora Park/ Polokwane Taxi Association (FPTS) and Westenburg/Polokwane Taxi Association (WPTA).

Whilst the LLP system will be managed by the City of Polokwane, these

associations have formed a Vehicle Operating Company (VOC), which is a private company responsible for Leeto la Polokwane Phase 1A operation.

THE COMPLETE NETWORK

Plans for the future include the implementation of Phase 1B, which will cover the rest of Flora Park, Nirvana, Westenburg and Seshego routes. Phase 2 (Moletjie), Phase 3 (Mankweng) and Phase 4 (Koloti/ Aganang) routes are part of the plans for expanding the service, wherein priority for implementation will be dependent on council determination and future spatial development within the municipality.

Commuters and the community will be engaged at every step of the way, and what is learned in the launch phase will be applied in the planning and implementation process to ensure a world class service that would be expected of the Progressive Smart City that Polokwane is working towards.

PLUGGED INTO TECHNOLOGY

To enhance customers’ experiences on the system and to make planning a journey simple, Leeto La Polokwane has introduced a mobile application. With the app, commuters will be able to plan their journey, purchase tickets, load travel cards, access interactive route maps and be able to chat with our customer agents to provide feedback.

Commuters and the community can also access information about the service on Twitter, Facebook and the website.

“It is important to note that Leeto La Polokwane is about integrated, safe and reliable transport, and not the destruction of existing industries and service providers. Although the buses are replacing the 123 minibus taxis catering for the demand on the Phase 1A routes, minibus taxis still have a role to play on these routes as well as in other nodes that will not be catered for by our service,” Mr David Ramakgwakgwa explains.

He concludes: “Journey with us as we implement a safe, convenient, and universally accessible public transport service for the community of the Progressive Smart City of Polokwane”. 

Contact Information

TEL: 015 023 0055 068 554 4235 (Whatsapp) Email: leetolapolokwane@polokwane.gov.za Web: www.leetolapolokwane.co.za Address: New Peter Mokaba Stadium (East Wing),Transport Directorate,Polokwane Limpopo 0700