Jetty Street Taxi Rank gets new look

PUBLIC transport commuters will be happy to know that the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA), an entity of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM), has announced the onset of the much needed Jetty Street Taxi Rank upgrade with the end of the Bus Station development in sight.

One of the MBDA’s capital projects includes the upgrade of Strand/Jetty Street in the Port Elizabeth CBD and to date, with funding from mostly the NMBM, the development agency has invested roughly R280-million in municipal infrastructure and buildings in the Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth CBD’s in Nelson Mandela Bay.

In particular, the Jetty Street Taxi Rank upgrade will be an investment of approximately R850 000 with construction set to begin in September 2011.

“Designs for the Strand Street/Jetty Street upgrade involved reopening of the historic Jetty Street link which had been closed and decked over under the bus station. It was further reduced to a narrow pedestrian ramp up the side of the bus station and along the front of the buildings that once fronted onto a busy Jetty Street which was the main link between the old Market Square and the harbour,” said MBDA CEO Pierre Voges.

“The new design was to also link Vuyisile Mini Square to the Campanile with a pedestrian route which is to be part of the Route 67 link between the Campanile and the great flag on the Donkin.

“To create Route 67 – a heritage route paying tribute to Nelson Mandela which will be launched on September 24 – it was necessary to move the Long Distance Taxi Association operations that had initially and informally occupied the traffic islands under the freeways.

“Owing to the fact that they had been operating in the area for so long and to the fact that it was very convenient outside the main railway station, it was necessary to find some land in the immediate vicinity.”

The only land was owned by Transnet and protracted negotiations were entered into to lease a portion of the land which had until now been leased to Telkom for staff parking. The condition was that a security fence be erected around both the balance of the Telkom parking area and the new taxi rank area.

The upgraded taxi rank will not only benefit public transport commuters but also the taxi drivers and association.

“The Long Distance Taxi Association were involved in all of the discussions and are extremely happy with the outcome. It is an obligation of the government to ensure that public transport is safe, attractive and user friendly, we are happy that we have played a small role in that regard,” added Voges.

Should there be enough funding and should all parties involved in the taxi association agree, the MBDA also hopes to upgrade other taxi ranks in the area. “When and if the remainder of Strand Street is redeveloped, the remaining taxi facilities will need to be dealt with. These are however, used by local taxi associations who are in the throes of being accommodated in the old Bus Rapid Transit proposals and the outcome of those protracted negotiations will affect the extent to which taxis will remain or buses will take over,” said Voges.

Part of the Strand Street development includes the CBD Bus Station upgrade – begun in September 2009 – of which the MBDA has completed phase 1 and phase 2, with a small portion of work remaining to complete it. To date, roughly R17-million and R23-million has been invested in both phase 1 and 2 respectively.

“It didn’t seem right to leave a dingy, dark and ugly bus terminus, in which passengers would need to wait to get on or disembark from buses every day, right adjacent to a Jetty Street pedestrian link that had been re-created and beautifully upgraded with nice stairs and paving. From the outset the bus station design had been severely criticised because of poor ventilation, lighting and atmosphere.

“Furthermore, security for people using the facility was always in question. Re-creating the  Jetty Street pedestrian link by breaking open the deck that had been built over the bus terminus and letting natural light and air in, was an opportunity to see the bus terminus redeveloped almost to airport waiting area standards – something that would complement the remainder of the Strand Street redevelopment project,” said Voges, who often refers to Nelson Mandela Bay as a “City in Bloom” and encourages all residents to take pride and ownership of these projects and love this city as it has potential to be a world class destination.

The MBDA has commissioned a mural from four emerging artists from Nelson Mandela Bay that will form one of the 67 pieces of public art in the bus station.