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2 October 2006

The month of October is upon us. Once more the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport is leading the Provincial Government in rolling-out the Transport Month campaign. This is an annual campaign that takes place during the month of October. It will be the second time we host the Transport Month campaign. The campaign came as a result of a resolution of last year’s Transport Lekgotla chaired by the Transport Minister Jeff Radebe attended by MECs, Heads of Departments and leaders of Government Transport Agencies.

The inaugural one was successfully hosted last year and is thus being held on an annual basis. Through the Transport Month campaign, we seek to strengthen the link between public awareness, policy measures and interventions regarding, mainly, (1) road safety and law enforcement, (2)transport infrastructure,(3) public transport improvements and (4)non-motorised transport promotion.

We will extensively engage in a communication campaign with the public in general and all transport stakeholders about the progress we are making in realising our vision of an efficient, safe, reliable, accessible and affordable transport system and a developed transport infrastructure. To this end, we will showcase current initiatives with regards to improving public transport, roads and other transport infrastructure as well as road safety and law enforcement. To the extent that transport month seeks to foster a partnership between us, as government, and all transport stakeholders including commuters and transport service providers, we will also use Transport Month as listening campaign of views and concerns of all stakeholders, our commuters in particular.

Transport is very key to the current government policy framework of growing and developing the economy so that we halve poverty and unemployment by 2014. A well developed transport system and infrastructure is like what veins are to the human body, it makes the economy operate and grow efficiently.

The hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup by our country will present enormous opportunities for infrastructure development, in particular as it relates to transport. Proper planning and execution of projects will therefore be very critical. Our preoccupation in this regard should not just be the infrastructure for the six weeks of the World Cup, but should be the legacy of these projects; for effective usage by South Africans post the world cup. We will therefore work very closely with the Mangaung Municipality as a host city in this regard.

Showcasing our work with regard to improving the public transport system will also feature very prominently during this month. We will be putting more emphasis on commuter rights; transport has to be affordable, accessible and efficient, primarily for the sake of commuters. In this context the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme (TRP) will be under great deal of attention. The transport services that taxis render are extremely important because the majority of commuters, more than 63%, use taxis.

Last year during the October Transport Month, the province of Free State was the first to issue the Route-Based Taxi Operating Licenses in the whole country as part of TRP. It will therefore be an honour, once more, for our province to be the first to scrap old taxi vehicles and introduce the first new taxi vehicle during this year’s Transport Month, on 28 October.

Just as a reminder, let me restate the basic tenets of TRP. The overall goal of the TRP is the replacement of the current ageing fleet that constitutes the bulk of the taxi industry with new vehicles that are safe and reliable. The programme will also bring about sustainability of the industry as a business, as well as ensure its formalisation and effective regulation. It will be implemented over a period of up to seven years at an estimated cost of R7.7 billion. This programme has the following five key pillars, namely: (1) safety requirements, (2) regulation of the taxi industry (3) scrapping of the old taxi vehicles, (4) effective law enforcement, and (5) economic empowerment.

The bus services will also receive our attention during this October Transport Month. We will therefore, on the appropriate day in the programme, announce the progress we are making in transforming the two subsidised bus services we have in the province, namely the Maluti Bus Service and the Interstate Bus Line. This transformation will seek to strengthen the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) component and affordable and efficient service to commuters.

Cycling and animal drawn vehicles will also find conscious concentration in this year’s Transport Month. We believe non-motorised transport has a key role in promoting affordability and accessibility for commuters.

Together with this statement we have issued a full programme, with activities and dates, for 2006 October Transport Month. I therefore appeal to all media houses to give a wide coverage to all our Transport Month activities, this is necessary for the desired public communication. We also call upon all the people of Free State, in all walks of life, to join in the Transport Month campaign.

Our main slogan for this year's Transport Month is: Transport - the Heart Beat of South Africa’s Economy!

I thank you.

Enquiries:
Gunnett Kaaf
Cell: 082 771 4931

Issued by: Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, Free State Provincial Government
2 October 2006
Source: Free State Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport (http://www.freetrans.gov.za/)