R1 billion has been allocated by the eThekwini Municipality to buy new buses for the first corridor of the new Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network.

The funds will also be used to replace old busses in the current fleet and will happen over a three year period.

A report tabled at a special executive committee meeting at the of May addressed the pressing issue of Durban’s ageing busses. Plans were outlined to tender for a new bus fleet as part of the city’s replacement programme and its Go!Durban service, which covers the route between Pinetown and Bridge City in KwaMashu.

The report proposed to replace 150 buses over the next three years on an approved budget of R325,000,000. This was to ensure that the ageing Durban transport fleet is replaced and to ensure the Go!Durban fleet is maintained.

The municipality currently operates a fleet of 531 buses. It said the optimum life span of a bus is 10 years and going beyond this will result in significant repairs and maintenance required.

It added that it would also not be able to achieve a good residual value if these buses exceeded a 10 year life span. “Older buses require major work to be done, which includes engine, gearbox and differential, with major downtimes which impacts on the bus availability and compromises service delivery,” the municipality said in a statement. “Also, the cost to operate older buses increases drastically.”

Currently 128 buses have exceeded their optimum lifespan and already require major refurbishment which includes engine, gearbox and body work maintenance.

The municipality said an additional R764,962,000 was approved for 190 new buses over the next three years for the Go!Durban C3 service. The buses will be funded via the Public Transport Network Grant (PTNG) and in the form of a loan for which the loan repayments will be funded by the PTNG.

Go!Durban: Project progress

The report stated that the Go!Durban project was underway with infrastructure for the first corridor nearing completion. The eThekwini Transport Authority has planned to start with an interim operation by mid-2017 which will require approximately 30 buses to run on this trunk corridor.

The municipality said the buses need to comply with Universal Access standards, as a condition of the PTNG funding. “From mid to end 2018, the full operations for C3 will be underway which will require additional 44 rigid buses and 41 articulated buses for the trunk corridor, and 75 midi buses for the feeder buses that will transport commuters from the outlying areas to the trunk corridor,” the municipality said.

“The benefit of a newer fleet is that the maintenance cost to operate new buses is more cost effective at a per kilometre rate as compared to older buses,” it added.

The municipality indicated that the newer fleets will comply with EURO4 and upward specifications which minimise carbon emissions, and will also have a lower fuel consumption which will result in significant fuel savings.

The report outlined the costs of purchasing the new buses for Go!Durban C3 and the replacement fleet over the next three years. The total cost for the replacement bus programme, the C3 trunk extended capacity, C3 Trunk Rigid ad C3 Feeder Midi is R1,089,962,000 over the 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years.

EThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede welcomed the report and said it would enhance service delivery and provide reliable transport to residents.