Jody White, a Yeoville resident writes:
Thank you for the article Rapid Transit too slow [Week Ending 28 February].
It was an interesting read and relative to our community. As a resident living next to Louis Botha Avenue, you can imagine that the development of the Bus Rapid Transport stations has been a growing concern as mentioned in the article.
What concerns me the most is that the City of Johannesburg ploughs all this money into a first-class system but has neglected to upkeep the paving on this route.
Surely, if you want people to use this route in the future you would be working on maintaining it. Louis Botha between Bellevue/Yeoville and Berea is so badly run down. Weeds are growing on all the pavements and the drainage is damaged.
Parks and islands right next to the stations are overgrown and become dumping sights. Potholes and manholes with no covers are a common sight on the road. The paving on the pavements has been dug up, there is litter everywhere, leaking water pipes and graffiti.
If this is a route that the City wants its citizens and visitors to our country to use, surely you would back up your investment by the upkeep of the route to attract people to use the system. A run-down area attracts crime.
So much money has been invested in beautiful state-of-the-art stations, walkways, bridges, murals and resurfacing of the road. Within weeks of completion of the different phases, it becomes derelict due to the neglect of the surrounding areas. Where is the upkeep? It all makes no sense to me.
The station next to KEPS has a park with a toilet facility and roadworks personal used the park as a dumpsite during construction. A once groomed park is now left neglected, overgrown, and covered in rubble and junk. It seems these stations have resulted in a decaying area.
I’m so excited for the upgrades and appreciate the City’s vision and effort but I’m worried that it will be a waste of money if it is all going to degenerate over time.
Thank you once again for the article and look forward to the system operating soon.
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