The Tshwane metro has unveiled its purple and green Tshwane bus rapid transit (TRT) system stations, and has also revealed the name of the new R3.5-billion bus system: A Re Yeng, or Let’s Go.

The name was selected following a public participation process.

Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa says the city has kept to the deadlines it has set itself.

“We remain on track and we are confident we are going to deliver.”

City of Tshwane strategic executive director for transport Lungile Madlala says the TRT system’s inception phase will be operational by April 2014.

The inception phase will run from Nana Sita street, past University road to the suburbs of Arcadia and Hatfield, looping back to University road.

Madlala says this will be followed by the Lines 1 and 2. Line 1 will run from the central business district (CBD) to Rainbow Junction and on to Kopanong, with Line 2 to split from the inception phase at Jorissen street, moving into Lynnwood road, the Atterbury area and on to Mamelodi.

The entire system is set for operation by 2016 or 2017.

Ramokgopa says the city has already spent around R330-million of its TRT budget.

The project is due to employ 11 000 people at the height of construction.

Ridership for the inception phase is likely to ramp up to around 10 000 passengers a day, notes Madlala, while the entire system is expected to carry around 127 000 people a day on completion.

The tender to procure the 154 buses required for the entire system, to be delivered in tranches, will be issued this month, she adds. The new tender process will see the newly formed bus operating company acquiring the buses and not the City of Tshwane, a matter that has to be corrected by scrapping the previous tender process.

The buses will be low-floor entry vehicles, notes Ramokgopa, which will differ from Johannes-burg’s raised-floor-entry buses. A raised-floor bus is only able to pick up commuters from elevated bus stations.

Ramokgopa says the choice of low-floor buses is not necessarily a popular one, but that it will allow the buses to merge with and operate in existing city traffic.

Madlala emphasises that Tshwane’s existing metropolitan bus service will not be replaced by A Re Yeng, noting that a recapitalised but rationalised bus fleet will still operate in the city on routes not covered by the TRT system.

She says the City of Tshwane is in the process of procuring 120 buses for the general fleet.

Hatfield station’s style, based on what the City of Tshwane terms the “Retro Tram concept”, will be used for A Re Yeng stations outside the CBD. The style is evocative of the city’s old tramlines, but using a contemporary design.

Stations will be located in the middle of the road, between driving lanes, similar to Johan-nesburg’s rapid transit Rea Vaya system, eliminating the need for a bus station on either side of the road.

In total, 51 stations will be built, from Kopanong, in Sosha-nguve, to Mamelodi, along 80 km of road.

At peak times, A Re Yeng trunk services will operate every three to five minutes, with feeder services running at 15-minute intervals.