LA LUCIA RIDGE AND UMHLANGA RIDGE
4.4. THE CITY OF DURBAN’S SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
4.4.2. Major Investment Node: Ridgeside, Umhlanga
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Figure 79: The master plan of the Umhlanga Ridgeside development. It is sandwiched between La Lucia Ridge Office Estate to the west, Gateway and Umhlanga New Town Centre to the north-west, and Umhlanga Manors residential estate to the north east.
Note, again, the dependence on roads and freeways as the development is bound by two freeways (Albonico, 2008: 43).
decentralisation, but is, in the opinion of the author, better suited to the South African spatial problem left by Apartheid than the decentralised node of Umhlanga which is located very near the most affluent members of society. The author is in favour of Bridge City because it addresses social and economic issues by being placed in a township which was devoid of economic, educational and social opportunities.
Time will tell, however, whether businesses feel Bridge City is a viable location to conduct business. The odds are against the location due to the bad reputation of townships. They are seen crime-ridden places and only the poorest of the poor live there. This is in essence the social construct the Apartheid government wanted to create. This social construct still exists in South Africa, and it will need to be broken down in order to allow developments such as Bridge City to begin changing the urban landscape of South African cities.
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Plate 73: A photograph from within Ridgeside Office Park (Author, 2011).
Plate 74: A photograph taken outside the Ridgeside Office Park. The office park is to the right of the image.
To the left is a bus stop with a bus slip lane. Notice the vast road-traffic infrastructure (Author, 2011).
Plate 75: This image shows how the office park is protected by a fence and wide grass verges with minimal regard to pedestrian experience, for example there is a lack of trees to provide shade (Author, 2011).
Plate 76: This image is from within the office park.
Notice the provision for parking on the street, but there is still a lack of interaction between the street and the road with most buildings.
(Author, 2011)
Upon visiting the office estate site, a similar situation to La Lucia Ridge Office Estate emerges. There is large- scale infrastructure for road-based transport with no provision of parking on the new road other than within the office park. Bus stops have been provided on the new road, but it will be a while before they are used by the public due to the continuing construction in the area. Buildings in the Ridgeside Office Park are much larger than those in the La Lucia Office Estate, but the space between them remains fairly vast. It is clear that the area is developed around the private vehicle, and that the new road infrastructure intends for large volumes of traffic to pass through Ridgeside.
The Ridgeside Office Park is the same at La Lucia Ridge Office estate in that it is fenced and does not allow pedestrian
interaction between the main road and buildings. The main road gives the impression that it will form the infrastructure for the river of cars which will pass through it and not the pedestrian.
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Plate 77: South Africa’s commuter rail network, Metrorail.
(www.prasa.com)
4.4. CHALLENGES OF DECENTRALISATION IN DURBAN The problem with Durban’s decentralised office nodes is
that they are only accessible by road transport. As touched on in section 2.5.8, the commuter train system in South African cities is designed to bring the urban poor from outlying townships into the CBD of the city. This train service is the only form of mass public transportation in the eThekwini Municipality, and is in direct competition with the mini-bus taxi industry and bus companies which add many vehicles to the roads.
In terms of the different modes of public transport available, timetables for the train services are readily available on the internet and in train stations; minibus taxis do not run on a schedule; and the timetables for the many bus operators in the eThekwini region are almost non-existent. One sees many buses on the city’s roads, but there is no identifiable way of knowing where they came from, or where they are going to, or along which route. The lack of an easy-to-use public transport system in areas which are not serviced by a train line appears to be promoting the use of the private car.
The only bus service in Durban which is easy-to-use is the People Mover bus service which runs within the CBD and surrounding high density residential areas.
The People Mover bus system functions on a rotational basis on set routes. It can be seen as a mass public transport system because buses depart stops every 15 minutes (www.durbanpeoplemover.co.za). A bus route and timetable is available on the internet, and the routes are shown at every stop so that people know exactly where the bus is going, and a bus ticket is valid for one hour once purchased on the bus. The buses are air-conditioned, most are wheel-chair friendly and are brightly decorated so that they stand out from the rest of the traffic.
Plate 78: A minibus taxi rank in Soweto, Johannesburg.
(www.cmt4austin.org)
Plate 79: The Mynah bus is one of many bus services which do not market their routes and timetables in a user-friendly manner (www.engineeringnews.co.za).
Plate 80: The People Mover buses are very identifiable due to their bright marketing (www.flickr.com).
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Figure 80: A simple diagram of the routes the People Mover bus system follows. There is a similar diagram at each stop. It is clear from this diagram that the city is trying to implement a system which is understandable to all members of the public
(www.durbanpeoplemover.co.za)
One would think that such an organised and predictable system would thrive in a city where other modes of transport are much less predictable. However the mini-bus taxi industry still rules the streets, and the People Mover buses suffer from very low passenger volumes, even though they pass through the most densely populated parts of the city.
It is clear from figure 80 that the People Mover is NOT a solution to office
decentralisation. It was mentioned here to illustrate that the eThekwini Municipality does have one scheduled, well-executed and easy-to-use bus service. But it services only a very small area of the city: the CBD.
To clarify, Durban’s decentralised office nodes are not serviced by a mass transportation system. Train lines do not run through, or pass near them. They are serviced by irregular mini-bus taxis (Gateway Mall was designed with a large taxi rank beneath it) and bus services which are far from user-friendly.
Durban’s decentralised office nodes are best accessed by the private car. If a suitable, user-friendly public transport system is not implemented in order to serve the nodes and their surrounding suburbs soon, Durban’s roads will become clogged and we will see traffic congestion which rivals that of Johannesburg.
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Based on the precedent studies conducted in Chapter 3, the following are possible solutions to help Durban’s decentralised office nodes function in unison, and to create a more efficient working and living environment for the city’s residents:
High speed rail system which has stations in commercial nodes. A dedicated bus network feeds the local high speed rail stations.
Actively decentralise a city in order to de-densify it by creating nodes of intensity in either the least dense areas of the city, or areas which are least developed.
Bus Rapid Transit Network (BRT) is a form of mass public transit which uses buses in a similar fashion to trains in a subway system.
Light Rail Network is a form of mass public transit which uses streetcars/trams in a similar fashion to trains in a subway system.
High density mixed commercial/residential corridors along existing major routes with public transport to activate suburbs, as well as to link together decentralised office nodes, and these to the central business district.
Changing the function of centres from “Central Business Districts” to
“Central Activities Districts.”
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Table 2: Respondents’ office location in relation to their living location.