EcoMobility Festival fever grips Joburg

31 July 2015

 

The countdown to EcoMobility World Festival 2015 – to be hosted by the City of Johannesburg in Sandton in October – has officially begun.

 

As host of this global event, the City will close off certain streets to vehicular traffic in Sandton and encourage people to walk, cycle or use public transport throughout the entire Transport Month. The EcoMobility World Festival and Exhibition is a global biennial event hosted in a major city.

 

The inaugural festival, organised in partnership with the Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), was held in Suwon, South Korea, in 2013.

 

Speaking on Thursday July 30 – almost two months to the start of the festival – Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau warned that if people did not switch to walking, cycling or public transport, the congestion in the Sandton CBD would go from bad to worse. He said traffic would eventually grind to a halt, creating a giant parking lot.

 

The Executive Mayor said the City of Johannesburg, having identified this challenge a while ago, began working with the Sandton Management District, a move that culminated in the approval and implementation of the Sandton Transport Masterplan. This plan, he said, was designed to promote behavioural change – moving from private cars to embracing non-motorised transport.

 

“The City of Johannesburg is now taking the lead in the implementation of the plan through the introduction of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system – Rea Vaya – cycle lanes and improved public transport facilities. The upcoming EcoMobility Festival is part of this grand implementation plan. [The festival] is set to give the people of Johannesburg a preview of what the streets of not only a future Sandton but the rest of the city will look like with decongested traffic. This will also be a time when preference will be given to public transport, bicycles and pedestrians," he said.

 

Mayor Tau also pointed out that it was very important that “we reclaim our streets”.

 

He said the time had come for those who lived, worked and played in Johannesburg to come out and enjoy the streets. The promotion of the non-motorised transport culture in Johannesburg goes to as far back as 2011 when the City initiated the “Streets Alive” campaign, during which streets were closed off for a certain period of time in certain communities and people encouraged to use them for walking, cycling, festivals and other recreational activities.

 

The City has also, in partnership with cycling activists and organisations, developed cycle lanes in Johannesburg, promoted access to affordable bicycles in disadvantaged communities, improved cycle safety and awareness, and promoted cycling as a normative mode of transport.

 

“As we approach Transport Month, you will notice, among other things, developments that support Ecomobility – a 5km dedicated cycling and walking path, and a bridge across the M1, between Sandton and Alexandra. This is to cater for up to 10 000 people who travel between Sandton and Alexandra daily.”

 

The Mayor also said the City had partnered with the University of Johannesburg, freight logistics state-owned enterprise Transnet and the corporate sector to make the festival a success.

 

“We want it to be a festival for the people. We want more people in Sandton during that month. We want people to be in Sandton to enjoy and create excitement. We want to enable the people to make a seamless transition between different modes of transport and switch from Gautrain to commuter rail. They must be able to move from Metrobus to Rea Vaya, to a taxi within one location and then get onto a bicycle or walk for the final sections of their journey,” Mayor Tau said.