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The City of Cape Town’s Transport and Urban Development Authority (TDA) has won the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) Award 2017 for its Transit-Oriented Development Strategic Framework (TODSF). The award was presented to the Commissioner of the South African TDA, Melissa Whitehead, at the UITP Global Public Transport Summit in Montreal, Canada, on Wednesday, according to a statement released by the international organisation for public transport authorities and operators.  

Every two years, the UITP Awards acknowledge ambitious and innovative sustainable mobility projects that contribute to improving the modal share of public transport. Modal share – which is the percentage of travellers using a particular type of transportation – is an important component in developing sustainable transport within cities or regions. The UITP has a goal of doubling the modal share of public transport worldwide by 2025.

"The TODSF represents a paradigm shift in the city’s approach to integrated land and public transport development and growth management," said UITP. "The approach and methodology could be replicated for use in for many other growing cities around the world."

According to UITP, the effective implementation of Cape Town's TODSF would result in a 20% improvement in public transport mode share by 2032 and significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions for the city's transport sector.
 
“We are extremely proud of this achievement," said Brett Herron, Cape Town's mayoral committee member for transport and urban development. “This ties in with the City’s new Organisational Development and Transformation Plan, which aims to accelerate our efforts to create a more equal society based on integrated communities, economic inclusion, and access to opportunities.”

Two years after the UITP Global Public Transport Summit held in Milan, the 2017 event held this week in Montreal from May 15-17, at a time when the urban mobility industry is witnessing a rapid and significant transition.  

The theme of this year’s summit was: Lead the TRANSITion. The theme was adopted to show the rapid evolution underway due to urbanization, digitalization, advances in green energy and the emergence of new mobility players such as the autonomous vehicle technology.

Some of the takeaways from the summit include the need to change the business model of public transport; establishment of partnerships with new mobility players; and improving the to-market time of public transport projects due to the high expectations for rapid delivery.

While Cape Town's TDA won its UITP award under the Public Transport Strategy category, the City Government of Muntinlupa and the Lingkod Muntinlupa Foundation in Philippines won the award for customer experience in public transport for their project, Leading the e-Jeepney revolution in the Philippines.  

Atkins, Network Rail and MACE (UK) won the award for the design of Birmingham Gateway Project, a £750 million landmark transformation of Birmingham New Street Station, one of the largest and busiest train stations in the city. The project has significantly increased users’ space perception and passenger flows inside the building, with brighter, cleaner platforms and a better access.

“We are about to enter a new era in public transport driven by huge social and technological changes,” said Pere Calvet, who was elected during the summit as the next President of the Association’s General Assembly. “UITP will lead the evolution towards more liveable cities and a more equitable society by promoting modern, efficient and sustainable Public Transport all around the world.”

UITP said its next Global Public Transport Summit will hold in Stockholm in 2019.