Prof Kevin Mearns of the Department of Environmental Sciences at Unisa
Sustainable transport (or green transport) refers to any means of transport with low impact on the environment, and includes non-motorised transport, ie walking and cycling, transit oriented development, green vehicles, car-sharing, and building or protecting urban transport systems that are fuel-efficient, space-saving and promote healthy lifestyles. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_transport)
The meaning of sustainability is often incorrectly used and most people refer to it as profit generation. The simplest definition of sustainability is: “Sustainability is a concept that captures our ability to keep something going, any sort of societal practice or practice that a business, industry, or community does.” (wiki.answers.com › … › Definitions and Word Differences)
For Prof Kevin Mearns of the Environmental Science Department at the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at Unisa, sustainability has a simpler meaning. He says that sustainability is doing things by looking to the future.
“Sustainability is a better way of doing things by looking to the future so that our children will also be able to benefit from what we have today. It is also our obligation as people to take responsibility for our actions and how we impact the environment.”
Estimates are that there are 8 774 349 million cars in a population of 51 million. And an alarming suggestion before the introduction of the Gautrain was that there were 160 000 cars on the highway between Pretoria and Johannesburg daily.
Sustainable transportation as the focus is about mass transportation, which is one of the solutions to the negative impact transportation has on the environment.
According to Prof Mearns, sustainable transportation is becoming a reality as its grasp can be seen on our doorstep. Many countries globally, such as the US, Australia, Japan and Britain, have implemented sustainable transportation. Japan is advanced in technology and thus uses modes such as bicycle travel, transport share and electric-drive vehicles, to mention a few. Countries in Europe have also introduced high-speed trains and other modes of transport to alleviate congestion issues.
In the green era, plans to implement sustainable transportation in South Africa were also hurried along by the hosting of the Soccer World Cup in 2010. The country had to be ready to ferry tourists to their various destinations during the event.
Gauteng (the economic hub of the country) introduced the Gautrain (rapid rail service) in 2006 which became fully operational in June 2011. The Gautrain is intended to reduce traffic between the cities of Pretoria and Johannesburg. The system is said to be beneficial to the environment as there will be a reduction in the carbon footprint.
The Bus Rapid Transit Service (BRT) is widely used around the world in countries such as Europe, Japan, Australia, Brazil and the US. It is meant to provide faster, quality and efficient service than ordinary buses. The BRT is widely used in Johannesburg and Tshwane. The City of Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, Mangaung and Rustenburg in the North West are all implementing BRT systems.
According to Prof Mearns, there are three fundamental points in transport sustainability. The first is the environmental impact, the economic impact and the social impact. To have a transportation system that strives towards sustainability, we have to take all three of these fundamental aspects of sustainability into account when transportation decisions are made.
“To further reduce costs, people have to plan their journey to include more than one purpose. It is called travel with a purpose. To reduce travel, people are nowadays using electronic methods to communicate. Social media, skype and e-mail are methods which make it possible for people to not have to travel. Certain retail shops have made it possible for people to purchase groceries online.”
Prof Mearns concluded the interview by sketching a scenario about how the university can adopt mass transportation. He says that sustainability initiatives have to start at home and within the university.
“The university has large staff and student numbers that converge on the main campus daily. Shuttles are used daily to transport staff to the campus which I think can be solved with the provision of mass transportation as well as the creation of bus links for other people. We can also have a campaign for staff to buy into mass transportation in order to use BRT and the Gautrain. Many people will in future also benefit from Gautrain’s expansion to other areas previously without the service.”
