City of Ekurhuleni executive mayor, Mondli Gungubele officially opened the innovative Transport Management Centre (TMC) in Kempton Park, which will manage traffic flow, public transport, safety and security in the metro.
The R16-million state-of-the-art TMC will start monitoring all the existing Ekurhuleni bus services, which will form part of the Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network (IRPTN), by the end of March 2016, says Gungubele.
From left: HOD Yoliswa Mashiloane, cllr Petrus Mhlarhi and executive mayor, Mondli Gungubele.
“As the public transport network grows, we will add the additional buses to the monitoring process. The intention is to equip all the new buses with Automated Vehicle Location (AVL) devices to enable the staff at the TMC to monitor the movement of the buses,” says Gungubele.
While the TMC will create an additional 16 employment opportunities, the high-tech centre will host two major Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), namely the Automated Fare Collection (AFC) system and the Advance Public Transport Management System (APTMS).
Ekurhuleni IRPTN Intelligent Transportation Systems divisional head, Tommie Snyman, explains the AFC system will be managed by individuals with financial backgrounds who will assist with the reconciliation of all the revenue collection of the Harambee Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.
This system also comprises the payment of fees to the Vehicle Operating Company (VOC) for services rendered.
“The APTMS is essentially the key to public transport operations, as it includes the correct scheduling for all the buses and the monitoring of the buses, while ensuring all the CCTV camera footage is supervised from the TMC,” says Snyman.
“Therefore, we will be looking at schedulers, bus controllers and security personnel in this regard.”
Provision has been made to accommodate Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department officials (EMPD) in the TMC, to allow them to assist with law enforcement.
The total cost for the design, build and operationalisation of the TMC included the refurbishment of the old Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) building; all information and communications technology (ICT) equipment; and the Eyevis 70 inch Slime Cube DLP video wall.
Maintained by Opitec in South Africa, the new wall-mounted technology is the first of its kind to be installed on the African continent.
The TMC will ultimately form part of the municipality’s long-term strategy to establish a Unified Command Centre (UCC).
