Mobility in the GCR

A key factor in defining a functional city-region is the flow of people between its constituent parts, as evident in one of the qualifying criteria for defining an OECD metro-region. Traffic flow is also an important development concern, as congestion impacts business efficiency and in turn regional competitiveness, as well as the quality of life of residents. For both reasons it is important to understand the existing flows of traffic across the GCR, and to gauge the impact of key transport interventions such as the Freeway Improvement Programme (and associated tolling), Gautrain, and BRT.

In 2011, GCRO commissioned two projects to assist with transport research. Firstly, the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Department of Civil Engineering Science and Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, were appointed to carry out transport research in the GCR using the 2009 Quality of Life survey and previous transport surveys such as GTS2000 and the 2003 National Household Transport Survey. The final output will be a report that compares current and historical transport surveys and depicts key commuter flow corridors within the Gauteng City-Region.

Secondly, Prof Christo Venter from the University of Pretoria (UP), was commissioned to develop a report for the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport analysing data from the transport sections of GCRO's 2011 Quality of Life Survey. A contract was signed that will produce a set of top line results a month after the 2011 QoL data is released, with a final report and detailed analysis of transport patterns due by July 2012 (dependent on the QoL data release date). The transport questions will be visualised using basic GIS maps showing desire lines and key commuter flow corridors, i.e. basic GIS mapping of major commuter movements by mode, travel time and speed. As part of this contract, a conference paper and/or peer reviewed journal will also be produced.

The 2012/2013 project builds on this research. In order to fully realise a visual and complete spatial analysis of the 2011 Quality of Life survey, an extension to this work has been proposed through the use of modelling software such as Flowmap to provide a detailed GIS and Flowmap analysis. The detailed analysis would focus on (i) the spatial/temporal patterns of transport, and (ii) patterns of access, exclusion, and economic participation at a community level. In contrast to the first phase of Prof Venter's analysis (which essentially maps survey responses as is), the second phase will be using second-stage indicators that are derived/calculated from the responses, in conjunction with other secondary data such as road and public transport supply. These could be especially useful for analysing and clarifying aspects of the spatial economy of the Gauteng City-Region, including tracking changes and identifying spatial-economic and spatial-demographic trends (if repeated for successive survey periods), and understanding relationships between spatial structure, social exclusion, poverty, and quality of life.

These visualisations could include maps and/or visualisations showing desire lines, major traffic spheres of influence and commuter sheds, access and exclusion mapping, mapping of economic participation, and mapping of correlations between subjective and objective access indicators. This is a specialized task that will be undertaken by Prof Christo Venter, in conjunction with Johan Maritz, Built Environment Unit, CSIR.

Once the mapping and visualisation process has been completed, the results from the UJ research report on past and present travel patterns in the Gauteng City-Region (which utilised the 2009 Quality of Life (QoL) survey), will be combined with the reports and maps from Christo Venter’s transport analysis of the 2011 QoL survey to produce a GCRO QoL transport research report to be presented, at a half- day workshop, to local and provincial transport departments.

Key partners

Zachary Simpson and Tracey McKay from University of Johannesburg, Prof Christo Venter from University of Pretoria and Johan Maritz, Built Environment Unit, CSIR.

Outputs in 2012/13

University of Pretoria research outputs:

A detailed set of report quality maps and data, some of which will be incorporated into the GIS website;
A 20 page report that can be used as an independent piece of analysis or included in the GCRO QoL transport report.

GCRO final output:

A GCRO QoL transport research report, consisting of a 5 page introduction on the overall findings, combined with: Part A – UJ research results from 2009 QoL analysis; and Part B – UP research results from 2011 QoL analysis.