In preparation for the World Cup in 2010, Johannesburg is building its first metro line that will run approximately 60 km (with stops to include the airport).  In the central city, the line is underground, again.  The city is also building bus rapid transit in the city center, based on the Curitiba model. Neil Fraser, the founder of the Central Johannesburg Partnership, says the plan ultimately is to remove or seriously discourage cars in the CBD. 

All parks in and near the city center are also getting an upgrade for 2010.

Two thoughts…

It is astonishing what can get done when an important date looms and everyone believes the world is going to show up and make a judgment about your city.  If we could invent more special occasions like the World Cup or the Olympics or the European Capital of Culture (although a year long celebration carries a big less urgency, as evidenced by this year capital, Liverpool, we sure could get a lot of things done in a hurry.  And wouldn't that be a good thing.  (As Mayor Daley told me not too long ago, the Chinese will build 10 airports while he was trying to get one new runway at O'Hare. How can the U.S. be competitive if that's the pace at which we work?)

And two, the question of transit seems to be at the top of city agendas worldwide. As I've said often, a recent 9-U.S. city tour in 10 days found 8 of those cities had transit as a top priority.  And here I am in Johannesburg finding that the same thing is true.

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