Moving between Newtown, Alexandra, Sandton and Soweto, the Kasi to Kasi Adventure Challenge teams could not help noticing the changes being made through a range of JDA projects.
Participants in the Kasi to Kasi Adventure Challenge, a Joburg public transport adventure, got to experience first-hand some of the developments taking place around the city.
Based on the concept of the Amazing Race, the Challenge saw 10 teams racing around the city on Friday, 17 October in search of clues to various locations. Their only proviso: they could only use public transport to get to their destinations.
In this way, the Challenge made good on the 2014 Transport Month theme “Towards Eco-mobility”, which encourages people to walk, cycle and use public transport to navigate the city.
The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) is making Eco-mobility increasingly feasible through the implementation of the City of Joburg’s Corridors of Freedom strategy.
This strategy entails the creation of high-density residential hubs which allow residents to live near their work, schools, shopping malls and places of leisure.
These hubs in turn are being linked through the expansion of the City’s bus rapid transit (BRT) system Rea Vaya – a quick, convenient mode of transport which the Kasi to Kasi Adventure Challenge teams took advantage of as they moved between Newtown, Alexandra, Sandton and Soweto.
Their destinations included the iconic statue of Brenda Fassie in Newtown, Kings Cinema in Alexandra, the Sandton Convention Centre, the University of the Witwatersrand’s Adler Museum of Medicine, and Thokoza Park Regina Mundi Church in Soweto.
On their travels, the teams could not help noticing the changes being made through JDA projects in areas such as:
- Nancefield and Jabulani in Soweto, where new walkways, street furniture and artwork has been erected;
- Alexandra, where the JDA is busy developing the Greater Alexandra-Marlboro Automotive Industrial Park and is also working to complete the Alexandra Heritage Centre; and
- Sandton, where the extension of the Rea Vaya BRT system to the northern suburbs of Johannesburg is under way.