Gautrain poised to promote

Pretoria - The Gautrain is ready to start informing consumers about its benefits.

The Bombela consortium, which is building the train and will manage it, has placed advertisements for media and advertising companies to tender for the job.

Gautrain spokesperson Barbara Jensen says that to date official Gautrain communications have been directed at contractors and subsequently at those affected by the construction work.

She says in terms of the contract with Bombela consumer communication must start six months before the rail line opens. The first section - between the OR Tambo airport and Sandton - is expected to open before or during the World Cup soccer tournament, around June 2010.

The closing date for the media tender is November 20 and the successful bidder will then need to move quickly.

Ben Rootman of Junxion Communications, a liaison firm specialising in tourism, says it is good to see that the Gautrain will be marketed in this way.

"South Africans are not familiar with this type of public transport and proper perceptions need to be developed."

He reckons the coming of the Gautrain will irrevocably change the way of doing business in Gauteng to a culture in which people can arrange to meet at a coffee shop along the route.

So far, Rootman says, the Gautrain is doing well in terms of communication. There is already an existing brand on which to build. He considers the scope of the tender substantive "and very exciting" for the local media and advertising industry. In the advertisements Bombela says it is looking for one or more companies to perform the following: