The Western Cape Mobility Department (WCMD), through its Government Motor Transport (GMT) division, is well on its way to delivering innovative, eco-friendly, and intelligent vehicles through the Vehicle Replacement Project (VRP).
“GMT delivers service excellence to its 27 provincial and national government client institutions via in-house-developed, and award-winning fleet management systems and holistic mobility solutions,” says Anthonie Janse van Rensburg, Director for Fleet Services at GMT.
The VRP is aimed at keeping the GMT fleet current, fit-for-purpose and within its economic life cycle. It includes fleet planning for vehicle replacement, procurement of new vehicles, specialised vehicle builds with the original equipment manufacturers (OEM), fitment and deployment by GMT, and vehicle disposal.
Phase 1 of the project was completed earlier this year with the procurement of 1 473 vehicles thanks to a combination of focused interventions from the operational team, and improved vehicle availability in the market.
Reducing carbon emissions is a high priority when acquiring new vehicles.
“GMT is exploring the expansion of its hybrid vehicle segment as a soft transition towards battery electric vehicles (BEV) adoption, as new electric vehicles are introduced into the market with an equally important evolving BEV charging infrastructure to decarbonise its fleet towards 2030,” he said.
“We are also focused on the development of a next-generation fleet management platform that will connect the mobility ecosystem, sharing data in real time to provide the platform for delivering more innovative mobility solutions for client institutions.”
The WCMD is currently fitting 100 traffic law enforcement vehicles with the latest in-vehicle technology which includes number plate recognition cameras integrated with the NATIS (National Traffic Information System) via the WCMD’s Integrated Transport Hub (ITH). The in-vehicle technology is a key building block towards delivering a smart mobility ecosystem, with technology solutions integrated into a broader intelligent ecosystem.