Faizel Patel – 10/06/2021

(Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)

The City of Johannesburg Transport Department says in order to improve resident safety and alleviate traffic congestion and issues in Lenasia, there is a desperate need for a scholar exchange area in the suburb.

The department presented its latest baseline assessment of the Lenasia Scholar Transport Plan at the Nurul Islam hall in Lenasia on Wednesday.

The department is currently developing the scholar transport plan with the objective of improving safety of learners when travelling to school and alleviate traffic pressure on Nirvana and Abu Bakr Asvat Drive and surrounding areas.

Lenasia residents have expressed concerns about the Lenasia Scholar Transport Plan saying building a taxi rank will exacerbate traffic congestion, increase crime levels and lawlessness in the suburb.

The city of Johannesburg transport departments Shaniel Pillay says they have collected a large amount of information and engaged with various stakeholders before devising the first of many phases of the baseline assessment for the Lenasia Scholar Transport Plan.

“There has to be an exchange where the different scholar vehicles, transport vehicles can arrive in the morning , they can exchange students, drop them off at school. In the afternoon they can leave the kids there they can wait for their vehicle to come to take them back home.”

Some Lenasia residents present at the meeting say while there is a need for an exchange area, their concerns must also be addressed.

Chairperson of the Lenasia Community Policing Forum (LCPF) Ebrahim Asvat says in order for the plan to work, schools also need to ensure they have a safety area for the learners as they wait for their transport vehicles to arrive.

“I’d just like to add on where the schools that have their holding facilities for children where they don’t go on the roads, we can widen the pavements, but it still create a congestion where I have to get Metro out because they are in the peoples yards and they are jumping and breaking everything. The two schools that have holding facilities are a perfect example, they system works. They hold their children in the school, the taxis come pick them up, there’s no hardship to any of the communities that live around the school.”

The City of Johannesburg Transport Department says the next stage of the Lenasia Scholar Transport plan involves addressing the issues raised by residents of Lenasia.

Listen to the brief discussion at the meeting at Nurul Islam Hall in Lenasia