R16-million world-class transport management centre launched

Ekurhuleni‘s state-of-the-art Transport Management Centre (TMC) was launched on Wednesday afternoon last week.

The world-class centre is situated on Kelvin Road in Spartan and will start monitoring the city’s bus services. It will form part of the Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network (IRPTN), by the end of March.

“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,” Ekurhuleni mayor, Clr Mondli Gungubele, said.

The purpose of the R16-million TMC will be to monitor the fleet and network infrastructure, provide a call centre for travel information and process the Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) system information.

The AFC is one of two major Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) being hosted by the high-tech centre, the other one being the Advance Public Transport Management System (APTMS).

“The TMC will also deal effectively with IRPTN-related incidents to ensure a safe and secure environment for commuters and operators.”

Ekurhuleni IRPTN ITS divisional head, Tommie Snyman, explains that the AFC system will be managed by individuals with financial backgrounds who will assist with the reconciliation of 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,” said Snyman.

“Therefore, we will be looking at schedulers, bus controllers and security personnel in this regard.”

The following functions will be hosted by the TMC:

CCTV surveillance so that operators at the TMC can actively monitor the environment for safety and security threats.

The APTMS or Fleet Management Operators will assist in tracking the IRPTN buses with adherence to schedules and distances travelled.

AFC operations – the two main components for these are the back office application (revenue collection, transfer of funds, ordering and distribution of smart cards and updating fare schedules) and internal control operations.

The TMC will also coordinate all the maintenance activities on the applicable ITS components of the IRPTN, traveller information and pedestrian bridges.

Provision has also been made to accommodate Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) officials in the TMC, to allow them to assist with law enforcement.

The TMC will ultimately form part of the municipality’s long-term strategy to establish a Unified Command Centre (UCC).