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.

GCRO has commissioned two projects to assist with transport research. Firstly, the UJ Department of Civil Engineering Science and Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, have been 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. The contract was finalised in May 2011 and the project will be led by Chris Wray and Graeme Gotz from GCRO, and Zach Simpson and Tracey McKay from UJ. The work will be performed by a group of fourth year Civil Engineering students and supported by third year geography students from UJ. The first phase of the project was completed in June following a workshop to review and discuss a revised set of transport questions for the 2011 GCRO Quality of Life survey.

The second phase of the project is progressing well with the UJ students completing a literature review and collecting historical transport data from 1975/1985 Transvaal Provincial Administration Roads Department (PWV) transport studies, Gauteng Transport Study (GTS) 2000 and 2003 national household transport survey. The data will form the basis of analysis for the report: Apartheid and the City-Region: historical analysis of travel patterns in the GCR. The other two reports the students are currently working on include: Transportation trends in the GCR: analysis of the 2009 Quality of Life Survey Results and Depicting commuter flows in the GCR: GIS analysis of the 2009 GCRO Quality of Life Survey, which will utilise open source QGIS GIS software to visualise commuter flow. The first drafts of the reports are expected in November 2011.

The second commissioned project will see Prof Christo Venter, from the University of Pretoria, develop a report for the GCRO and Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport, that analyses data from the transport sections of the latest 2011 GCRO Quality of Life Survey. A contract has been signed with Prof Venter 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 (including maps and GIS data visualisations) due by July 2012.