THE POTENTIAL OF STRAVA DATA TO CONTRIBUTE IN NON-MOTORISED TRANSPORT (NMT) PLANNING IN JOHANNESBURG

Abstract. Transportation is one of the most fundamental challenges of urban development in the modern world. Cities are currently moving towards sustainable transportation, which includes non-motorised transportation (NMT). The city of Johannesburg has a goal of becoming a smart city, with sustainable development and smart mobility. Encouraging the use of non-motorised transportation and public transport has the potential of reducing the use of private motorised transport and therefor its negative consequences within the city of Johannesburg. There is limited research on cycling and how cyclists interact with cycling infrastructure within the city. The lack of such knowledge hinders proper planning for NMT. This research studies the ability of geolocation based services to provide such information which can be useful in planning for NMT. Strava Metro application is the example of such geolocation based services. The potential of this app to influence planning is investigated. According to the information acquired by Strava Metro, there are more cyclists in suburbs at the centre of Johannesburg and towards the north and to the east, and in Kibler Park at the south western part of the city. There are indications that the numbers of cycling activities recorded by Strava Metro are affected by the availability of gated communities, income levels, crime levels and the provision of infrastructure.