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Johannesburg - Some of the chief considerations when purchasing a home is location (distance to local amenities), school district and long-term value.
Lightstone has released analysis on how the population density in Johannesburg and Cape Town suburbs affects travel times during peak hours.
Drive Time to Sandton from northern outskirts:
An average drive from Pretoria to Sandton should take approximately 37 minutes.
From May to August 2017, an average morning drive between the two metropolises designates that if commuters leave at 5am it would take 45mins to reach Sandton. Motorists who leave home at 6:15am will spend a 7mins en route to their destination.
The data shows driving times from 5am to 9am during weekdays and includes all suburbs in the major commuter belts between Pretoria and Sandton.
Lightstone said: "These findings are indicative of why it is recommended that employees amend their departure times in order to spend less time on the road thus being more productive and time efficient."
Drive time to Sandton from southern outskirts:
Commuters traveling from the south of Gauteng (Alberton, Benoni, Edenvale Kempton Park, Johannesberg CBD) to Sandton also struggle with morning congestion during week days. A drive from Alberton to Sandton should take an average of 37mins, however, individuals would spend up to 71min in traffic when leaving home at 7am whereas other commuters would only spend 40min stuck in traffic if they departed at 8:45am.
Road congestion is an issue affecting all motorists in SA - Share your morning/afternoon commute with us.
READ: Worst traffic in SA? Joburg no longer tops in congestion
Lightstone said: "The most significant findings in this particular graph is that the distance between Benoni to Sandton is six kilometres further than Alberton; however residents of Benoni would save an extra 10 minutes as opposed to those who live in Alberton."
Cape Town
What about Cape Town? Lightstone said: "When comparing the two metros, it is surprising to find that Cape Town traffic peaks 15 minutes earlier than Johannesburg considering that the data was collected during the winter period when the sun rises later in the mother city."
An average drive from Kuilsriver to Cape Town should take no more than 35mins but during peak travel time this time increases to 66mins at 6am and drops significantly to 37mins at 8am. The remarkable fact about the findings on the graph is that Kuilsriver is located 26km from Cape Town whereas Durbanville is 29km from the city centre, but drive time is 16mins faster from the latter.
Lightstone: "When taking a holistic look at the results Lightstone has compiled, one can easily deduce that leaving home before 5.45am from densely populated areas like Alberton and Kuilsriver could constitute to a drive time of only 40 minutes compared to an increase of 30 minutes’ drive time (total 70 minutes) when leaving home at 6.15am. When taking the main requirements of potential home owners into account, they rarely take peak drive times into consideration and are willing to sacrifice this element for other unique selling points like schools and shopping centres."
