The GO!Durban Foot Fuelling Station at the Sustainable Living Expo, 14 - 16 August 2015, Exhibition Centre

Media Release

 The GO!Durban Foot Fuelling Station at this year’s

Sustainable Living Expo

August 14 – 16, 2015, Durban Exhibition Centre

This year, GO!Durban, the eThekwini Municipality’s new integrated rapid public transport network, which is currently under construction, will present visitors to the Sustainable Living Expo, with an opportunity to experience the world’s first Foot Fuelling Station.

The fuelling station, is a place where the avid walkers and riders of Durban’s streets can go to fuel their feet. Here visitors will be able to enjoy foot rubs, reflexology, shoe shining and cleaning, and an opportunity to refresh themselves while imbibing in the exciting information about the City’s vision for public transport in GO!Durban and how it adds to creating a more liveable, caring and sustainable environment for all.

As part of GO!Durban, much planning has gone into the creation of non-motorised transport networks which includes bicycle lanes, walkways and bridges for pedestrians for commuter and recreational purposes, which are being developed at the same time as the integrated rapid transport network. This will provide a safer, more efficient, reliable and cost-effective public transport network, which will reduce the need for people to rely on vehicles, and therefore propel the reduction of vehicles on the roads.

“We are currently constructing a dedicated bus lane from Bridge City to Pinetown as part of the first route to be developed in the public transport network which covers the entire municipality.” explains Thami Manyathi, Head of the eThekwini Transport Authority. “This new route will cut down travel time from Bridge City to Pinetown by half.  Ultimately, its efficiency and reliability with appealing security and cleanliness will hopefully reduce the number of people using their own cars and opting to use public transport instead. With fewer cars on the road there will be more space for walking and cycling lanes. With more people riding and cycling and fewer cars on the road, our carbon footprint will decrease in the long run.  A greater walking and cycling culture will encourage healthier, active citizens, and a more enriched culture of tourism, all adding to the future sustainability of the City. We have already seen how effective the various cycling and pedestrian walkways in the City have been, including the infrastructure already in place from uShaka to Durban North and from uShaka to Albert Park.”

The eThekwini Municipality will be implementing bicycle workshops in 2016 and 2017 as well as building new parks to give the public more space to learn to cycle. More information about these initiatives will be available at the Expo.

Durban citizens are invited to “fuel their feet” as a forward looking theme that aims for a time when people rely more on their feet as a mode of transportation encouraged by the holistic approach of GO!Durban, and find out more about this exciting project at the GO!Durban stand at eThekwini Municipality’s Sustainable Living Expo, which showcases the myriad ways in which we as citizens can work together towards a more sustainable future.

The Expo takes place at the Durban Exhibition Centre from Friday, August 14 to Sunday, August 16 from 9am to 5pm. Entrance is free and all are welcome.

For more information on GO!Durban go to www.godurban.co.za or for the Sustainable Living Expo go to www.durban.gov.za

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Sharlene Versfeld
Versfeld & Associates
Public Relations and Communications
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 326 3235
Tel: +27 (0) 31 811 5628
Post: P O Box 30547, Mayville, 4058
Email: sharlene@versfeld.co.za
Twitter: sharlvers
Website: www.versfeld.co.za

MUVO Bus Driver Winner

Durban bus driver Deena Dayalan Naidoo was awarded as Durban’s best bus driver for the month of April as part of the Move to Muvo Campaign.

Deena Naidoo was previously employed by the Airports Company of South Africa as a courier of flight documentation and through sterling work was promoted to shuttle driver, transporting passengers from platforms to their destined flights. A resident from Hilary in Durban, Mr Deena Naidoo has been driving one of the  People Mover Buses in the city for over 5 years. Often found doing his daily commuter route passing the famous Indian Spice Market, Warwick Junction, the Botanical Garden, West Street and South Beach, Naidoo says that he really enjoys his job. “I love my job, interacting with the different people of our beautiful, sunny city brings great joy to me. I believe that as a driver to respect and help all of my passengers at all the time is part of my job and I always look forward to that”

He was awarded the Best Bus Driver of the month award voted for by the commuters for being a good ambassador and assisting commuters with their Muvo cards.

From April 1, bus coupons have been discontinued, and replaced with the new MUVO Smartcard, which will provide a safer, more efficient way of paying for public transport. The card is part of GO!Durban, the massive Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network, that will eventually be used on all the public transport within the network which sees the integration of  public transport with dedicated lanes for busses and upgraded transport corridors for rail.

The card is being issued free of charge until further notice.

“Muvo has been running a competition for Best Bus Driver for this Move to Muvo campaign. The objective of the competition was to help improve the service provided to the commuters and encourage bus drivers to become ambassadors of the Muvo brand. Commuters had to vote for their favourite bus driver in order for their favourite driver to win the competition” says MUVO Project Manager Michelle Pearton.

For enquiries about the MUVO Card call 080 000 6886 or visit the website on www.muvo.co.za

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Smartcard for public transport means bus coupons to be discontinued soon

Durban commuters using public transport can look forward to a swifter, more efficient and safer payment method as the deadline to change to the cashless card system looms.

The bus coupons that have been used on the Durban Transport and Mynah busses since the early 90’s will be discontinued on 1 April 2014 and replaced with the MUVO Card – the City’s new cashless smartcard.

Commuters who get their MUVO Cards now and use it 10 times or more until 1 April 2014 stand a chance to win free transport for one year with weekly draws giving 10 commuters the opportunity to win.

As part of GO!Durban, the massive Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network, the MUVO card is the cashless card that will eventually be used on all the public transport within the network which sees the integration of  public transport with dedicated lanes for busses and upgraded transport corridors for rail.

“The card was launched in July 2012 and was gradually phased in across all regions.” says Thami Manyathi, Head of the eThekwini Transport Authority. “This gradual approach enabled the project team to bed down operational and system teething problems and the system is now operating well with 32 000 commuters having already “moved over to Muvo.” ”

Muvo Cards are a progressive step towards modernising the current transport system. The card is a single Smartcard that can be used across all three of Durban’s primary bus lines: the Durban Transport, Mynah and People Mover busses. By loading cash to the MUVO Card, users are able to travel to central and greater Durban areas using the interchanging routes travelled by these buses. The card has been designed with two main choices, to either load cash or load specific trips.

The benefit of the MUVO Card is that it can be loaded with travel products that only expire after 3 years, whereas the coupon expires after 2 weeks.  The card can also be loaded with cash which can be used to pay for goods and services at retail outlets that display “MUVO accepted here” signage. The card eliminates the need to carry cash on the bus and to do other transactions and each card has a secret pin that the user chooses which safeguards it like a debit or credit card.

The MUVO Card has been certified by Mastercard and the National Department of Transport’s compliance Agency making it fully compliant with banking and regulatory requirements.

The card is being issued free of charge until 1 May 2014, one month after the bus coupons have been discontinued, from which point a charge will be levied for the card.

PayPoints have been set-up at the same locations where bus coupons are sold - look out for the branded MUVO SmartVans - with the addition of some Municipal Sizakala Centres to increase commuter convenience.

Pensioners, people with disabilities and scholars will also be catered for with the new system through a concession card programme that will follow a simple and convenient application process.

For enquiries about the MUVO Card call  080 000 6886 or SMS your name and a short description of your question to our free of charge SMS line 44524 and one of our brand ambassadors will call you back.

For a full list of Muvo PayPoints visit the Muvo websitewww.muvo.co.za, and for more information on the GO!Durban project go towww.godurban.co.za..

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