Joburg banks on smart busses

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 15 Nov 2007

By the time the FIFA Confederations Cup rolls by in June 2009, Johannesburg commuters should be able to use "bank-issued" smart cards to commute on city busses. They will be able to use the same card on the Gautrain and perhaps in taxis and other trains as well.

City of Johannesburg spokesman Kgamanyane Maphologela says the city`s new Rea Vaya bus service will have an integrated electronic fare system based upon smart cards.

"The difference from conventional fare systems is that it will most probably be a smart card system based on bank-issued smart cards (where commercial banks provide the back-office financial management and payment of operators or government) as opposed to smart cards issued by operators or fare system vendors," Maphologela says.

"This type of e-payment system offers opportunities - among other things - to increase the proportion of users who are included in the banking system."

Maphologela says the national Department of Transport is promoting "bank-issued" smart cards, and the city hopes to be able to work with the department to use these smart cards in the Rea Vaya bus rapid transit (BRT) fare system.

Rea Vaya explained

Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo has said the Rea Vaya BRT system is the city`s contribution to the provincial and national effort to boost the Gauteng economy by decongesting the region`s roads.

Rea Vaya will complement the i-traffic solution being rolled out along the highways around the city and into Pretoria and Ekurhuleni, as well as a recently announced e-tollgate scheme. The system is based on around 40 similar models already operational elsewhere in the world.

City executive director of transport Bob Stanway says phase 1A is to be in place for the Confederations Cup and phase 1B is to be in place for 2010. The two phases together will cost R2 billion.

The full phase one will be completed by 2013 and the BRT system will be fully deployed beyond 2020.

On the bus, in the street

The integrated electronic fare system will not be the sum total of IT in the BRT, says Maphologela. "There will also be electronic passenger information, CCTV cameras for safety and security, electronic vehicle and driver performance monitoring and a GIS-based control feature linked to a central control room," he says.

Meanwhile, the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) is in the process of reviewing an Urban Traffic Control (UTC) Concept of Operations Document and also concurrently carrying out "adaptive systems" trials. This will evaluate the different types of UTC systems and find the one suited for Johannesburg.

"Adaptive systems" automatically adjust traffic light signalling to fluctuations in traffic flow through the use of detectors coupled to intelligent software. The detectors can be imbedded in the road surface, be buried under it or be radar, video image processing or microwave-based.

In addition, the JRA is evaluating ways of powering traffic lights independently of the power grid. Technologies under review include batteries, solar panels and hydrogen fuel-cell technology. "We also, in parallel, have to determine the right locations and hotspots to install the right alternative power sources for those locations," Maphologela says.