TSHEPO KGOBE | Gautrain on track to roll out mobility service to all

The 30th anniversary of SA’s democratic dispensation has given us a moment to reflect on the democratic rights we enjoy today, take stock of strides we have made as a country, while we contemplate the road ahead.

At the recent Transport Summit on Universal Accessibility, addressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, delegates highlighted that transport systems remain inaccessible to persons with disabilities. The two-day summit, which took place in Ekurhuleni, stressed the need for innovative transport solutions to ensure universal accessibility.

The Gautrain, as a proud product of a democratic dispensation that extended universal rights to all South Africans, embraces the responsibility of rolling out a mobility service to all, irrespective of their ability or disability. To us, transportation represents freedom of movement and access to transportation is a basic human right. Human rights are universal and inalienable.

The Gautrain Project is aimed at providing and optimising an integrated, innovative public transport system that enables and promotes the long-term sustainable economic growth of Gauteng. It is also part of a broader vision to industrialise and modernise the region, including a commitment to creating and sustaining an integrated culture of smart mobility.

The freedom to move, explore, and access opportunities is at the heart of our existence. Accessible transportation is not a nice-to-have, it is a fundamental human right central for living a fulfilling and satisfying life.

Freedom of movement and mobility empowers persons with disabilities to unlock their independence while giving them the dignity they deserve. Therefore, providing accessible transport for persons of all disabilities enables access to economic opportunities, healthcare, education, social spaces and services.

Investment in transport drives economic growth, and is critical for ensuring poverty alleviation, access to markets and job creation. When the government decided to go ahead with the Gautrain Project in 2005, the system was designed with accessibility at its heart. 

The intentional design of our system to address accessibility extends to the wide entrance gates for people with mobility devices such as wheelchairs, lifts for easy access to the various platforms, and signage to indicate accessible seating on the train cars.

Furthermore, we have ensured that every second Gautrain bus has a wheelchair ramp and some midibuses are equipped with electronic wheelchair lifts. Passengers who are deaf and are visually impaired are provided for at Gautrain stations using colour contrasts, clear signage, high-quality lighting and non-reflective surfaces.

In addition, Gautrain service announcements are provided in audio as well as on public information display boards.

However, universal accessibility goes beyond just adapting physical infrastructure. Mosa Moerane, liaison, advocacy and awareness officer at the University of the Free State’s Centre for Universal Access and Disability Support, wrote that “Universal access is when the focus of attention is shifted from the individual with the disability to the environment in which they live".

"In this instance, universal access demands that the environment and society be more adaptable and flexible. The universal access approach conceptualises a disability as an experience where the environment in which a person functions or interacts is inaccessible, and may include social, attitudinal, learning, and administrative and physical barriers.”

Our aim this year, in tandem with the celebration of the 30 years of our freedom and democracy and cognisant of the centrality of the Gautrain in growing an inclusive economy, is to launch a product that specifically caters for people with disabilities.

We are alive to the position of organisations representing people with disabilities, which states that "Nothing about us, Without us!"

Public transport systems such as  Gautrain are not for some people, they are for all members of society, and much more can be done to ensure universal accessibility.

• Kgobe is Gautrain management agency CEO