A BUS Rapid Transit (BRT) system is planned for Buffalo City, a move that will give the municipality's commuters faster, safer public transport.

The first phase of the project will be the construction of the Mdantsane-East London Corridor. No timelines have yet been set.

According to a council report, the first draft of the operational plan for the first phase of the BRT was submitted to the council on 29 April 2009 and was approved "in principle".

"BRT systems make road-based public transport faster, safer and more efficient through dedicated lanes, larger vehicles with multiple doors, special stations, smartcards instead of cash, a control centre to track vehicles, fully integrated feeder services and long-term contracts," reads the report.

The first phase will comprise mixed traffic for buses from the Highway Public Transport Interchange to the Douglas Smit Highway intersection with Mdantsane Access Road. The central business district section of the BRT will comprise segregated median busways from the Douglas Smit Highway intersection to the Gillwell Street Bus Terminus.

Closed raised median stations with off-board payment systems will be located along the BRT route. There are several reasons why the Mdantsane-East London route has been chosen as part of the first phase. These include:

• It has the highest public transport demand in the city;
• It provides the most operationally efficient corridor in Buffalo City and is therefore the most cost-effective; and
• It is the key strategic transport corridor in terms of the City's spatial development framework plans.

"In order to identify the phase one route structure, it was necessary to develop a detailed conceptual design of the overall public transport system to ensure that the phase one corridor operates within a future integrated system. To this end, a rationalised ultimate network scenario was developed," says the report.

The approval of the BRT project comes after consultation with relevant bodies in Buffalo City. To date, a transport forum, a public transport sub-committee and two public transport technical meetings have been held in which the project was presented and discussed. In addition, a workshop was held for all affected stakeholders.

Participants in these meetings included the local and provincial taxi industry, private bus operators, Metrorail, the South African Police Service, the Mayibuye Transport Corporation (MTC) and the South African Civic Organisation, among others.

A dedicated steering committee has been set up to guide the BRT process. The first meeting with the nominated councillors serving on the committee took place on 8 April 2010.

In 2008, the Government Lekgotla resolved that the taxi industry would form the nucleus of BRT systems implemented in cities around the country. In response, Buffalo City made sure it was part of the National Joint Working Group, a body established by the national Department of Transport to ensure minibus taxi operators and workers were included in BRT systems.

The MTC, which provides public transport services in most parts of the municipality, will also be a significant stakeholder in the BRT. Some of the MTC's services fall within the Mdantsane-East London corridor.