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[HOW TO] Move in and around Sandton during the #EcomobilityFestival this October

There are two days left before the area that surrounds Sandton city centre becomes virtually gridlocked as the City of Joburg kicks off its Ecomobility Festival throughout October.

Seeing as the use of private cars has been prohibited to reduce influx in a number of the busiest streets in the area and promote a more eco-friendly city, it’s going to be quite an adjustment for most drivers. The question is, if you work in Sandton, do you know how you’re going to get around? If not, you can choose between the list of alternatives below.

Buses

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Image credit: City of Joburg

The City of Joburg has a number of public bus services available for use from Monday to Sunday. It’s also made special provisions for routes and services during the Ecomobility Festival. These are:

Metrobus 

Metrobus has seven buses that travel to or through Sandton at different times of the day. You can buy a bus tag (price will depend on how far you’re going), or pay cash for every trip. Below is a breakdown of how much a trip will cost you if you opt to pay cash.

ROUTE FARE
Gandhi Square to Sandton City R 13.60
Gandhi Square to Sunninghill via Rivonia R 19.00
Gandhi Square to Megawatt Park via Sandton R 19.00
Gandhi Square to Barlow Park via Sandton City R 16.30
Bellevue to Sandton R 16.30
Gandhi Square to Westgate Node via R412 R 19.00
Westgate to Sunninghill via Sandton R 20.50

Putco

Putco buses run solely from various parts of Soweto through the M1 highway into Rosebank, Illovo and Sandton. You can also buy a bus tag or use cash to catch a ride on any of the running services. Cash trips will cost you between R17 and R30 depending on where you board.

Gautrain bus

Gautrain commuters and those who don’t regularly use the rail service can catch a Gautrain bus into Sandton from Fourways, Sunninghill and Gallo Manor. Here’s how much a trip will cost you during peak and off-peak hours:

CATEGORY FARES
Bus rail user peak hour  (5:30am – 8:30am and 4pm – 7pm) R7
Bus rail user off peak (8:30am – 4pm) R1
Bus non rail user peak hour R20
Bus non rail user off peak R14

Taxis, tuk-tuks, metered cabs and Uber

uber

Conventional mini-bus taxis operate from the Johannesburg CBD Noord taxi rank, Randburg taxi rank and Alexandra township taxi rank. A trip from either one of these locations will cost you from as little as R12, depending on which one you board from.

Metered and Uber cabs as well as the Standard Bank-branded tuk-tuks will be on standby to transport you in and around the restricted Ecomobility routes.

Bicycle lanes

Image credit CC 2.0/ Richard Drdul
Image credit CC 2.0/ Richard Drdul

Green transport is one of the main objectives of the Ecomobility Festival, which is why the city is promoting cycling with the addition of bicycle lanes you can use between Alexandra and Sandton (you can also join this route if you’re coming from Louis Both Avenue) and temporary pop-up routes from Rosebank, Parkmore and Benmore.

Park and ride service

Perhaps the most interesting option is to take one of the temporary park & ride services. A mix of bus and taxi services will be running from 6am to 7pm for just R10 (or, in some cases, free). Here’s where you can catch a direct ride into Sandton.

  • Orlando Stadium
  • Cresta Shopping Centre
  • Monte Casino
  • Brightwater Commons
  • Emporer’s Palace
  • Melrose Arch
  • Westgate Shopping Centre
  • Randburg Square
  • Balfour Park SC
  • George Lea Park – South
  • Marie Ave City Power Servitude
  • Innesfree Park
  • Sandton City Roof

VayaMoja app

VayaMoja

The City of Joburg recently launched the VayaMoja app, here you can find real-time maps of all the park and ride locations, taxi ranks and bus stops nearest to youand find out about events taking place in the metro.

Download it from the Google Play or iTunes App Stores.

See the map below to see which streets have been cordoned off and have been dedicated to which mode of transport.

ecomobility-footprint

[Source – Ecomobility Festival, iamge – CC 2.0 by South African Tourism]

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