Joburg residents cautiously welcome EcoMobility

07 October 2015

 

Johannesburg residents – including commuters, motorists, cyclists and businesspeople – are warming up to the EcoMobility World Festival currently under way in Sandton.

 

The festival officially kicked off on Monday October 5 when thousands of people heeded Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau’s call for residents to leave their cars at home and either walk or cycle to work or use public transport. Several streets in Sandton have been closed off to vehicular traffic in a bid to get as many people as possible to be ecomobile.

 

Ecomobility is an environmentally friendly way of mobility that aims to decongest major cities and reduce their carbon footprint. Most people interviewed in the Sandton CBD on the second day of the festival welcomed the festival, but also proposed ways of resolving some of the teething problems experienced. Kamohelo Maphike, a student, welcomed the festival, saying it had brought a whole new world to Sandton.

 

“I feel like I am on top of the world,” he said excitedly.

 

Angel Mackenzie welcomed it with both hands, describing it as “great”.

 

Mohammed Makoda, who was gliding in his drifter, said the idea was good but expressed concern at the lack of places where he could park his scooter. Soraya Kola said the festival was a good initiative but added that it did not go very far as it did not cater for “people coming from the south of Johannesburg, who get stuck in traffic on the M1 highway”.

 

Jonathan Novotny said the festival could be even better if commuters were not “restricted to one area”.

 

But there were also some rumblings of discontent. Patricia Amor of Woodmead said the festival caused a lot of discomfort to commuters, who also had to pay double for transport. Amor said she was not happy because she now had to spend more time hopping from one bus to another at extra cost. Onke Mgobhozi also said it took him longer than usual to get to his workplace.