Rouen Smit

Actuary. Urbanist with Our Future Cities @ofuturecities.

Meet me in the water, or on the mountains.

[Anton Eberhard @AntonEberhard]

Many homes and businesses in South Africa have battery storage, with their rooftop solar, but too few are feeding back into the grid and benefitting the system as a whole (as in this example from Australia).

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

Crazy impressed with my first @BlaBlaCar trip in France. Trains are on strike. Now I'm sharing a car with 2 other passengers. Four strangers connected with technology.

I also get a chance to practice my French ☺️

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

Arrived in France today, and as usual there's a nationwide train strike.

My travels changed from consisting of airport bus + train + vehicle, to a trip consisting of airport bus + metro + @BlaBlaCar + vehicle. A bit delayed, but still getting to my final destination Camon.

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

@BlaBlaCar No, you guys didn't do anything wrong 😊 you are my saviour today!

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

I say way too much "ja" when I speak French. I guess the correct expression is to add "voila, voila" 😑

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

@HomeAffairsSA @Leon_Schreib is there a plan to get a Whatsapp Customer Support channel?

The call centre fails 99% (is it too busy?) - I've tried a Vodacom, Cell C & MTN number to call.

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

Shame, I just ordered a @Starlink Mini kit.

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

What's up with the crazy high walls, barbed + electric fencing in Windhoek? Looks like there is a civil war here. I know in Jozi it's a must, but Namibia... ?

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

I find this cute from @MTCNamibia : Freedom SIM for their-eSIM campaign :)

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

@hermux How did you find the Theewaterskloof Dam details? That website seems not lekker to me - only showing Free State details.

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

Hello @dineshgovender @Vitality_SA is there anyone I can escalate a matter related to these cancelled flights?

I was charged a cancellation message, but all communication from Emirates & this Vitality page mentions that they would be waived.

Surely every single cancellation would be due to the Middle East crisis. I'm a bit shocked this is not automatically applied - actually it just shows the incompetence at Vitality Travel — not communicating at first, and unclear instructions. I clearly cancelled via the online facility ON Vitality Travel's platform. Every single person that did it was due to Middle East crisis.

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

@dineshgovender @travelstart Thank you - this clarifies and hopefully helps loads of other customers.

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

There's talk about 'digital IDs' - but flip, you can't even apply for a birth certificate 'reprint' (or anything other than passport & ID) online. Fix the basics plz @HomeAffairsSA

Queuing for hours, for something I should be able to request online.

https://t.co/QIRREZMv2D

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

@TheCourierGuy_ 2nd locker attempt of the day: locker full

Unbelievably stupid.

Clients must now drive around at R30/L to look for an open locker. 🤣

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

I find the new PUDO/@TheCourierGuy_ system baffling. You can't pre-book a locker. So now schlep a XL parcel to a full drop of point. No way to see which lockers have space. How is this convenient?

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

This change is stupid. Can you see dragging a 20kg box to a locker and then finding out it is full is a waste of time? There was another person that took a train to drop a parcel, but was full.

You can't even see -before going- whether a locker has space or not.

Not using pudo again to drop off something at a locker.

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

@TheCourierGuy_ .Probably the last time I'll be sending something from a @TheCourierGuy_ Locker. How can people take a risk like that with their time?

Very sad because the system worked.

[Michael Easter @Michael_Easter]

Bicycling is the most efficient mode of transportation.

Humans on bikes burn the least amount of energy per gram of weight per kilometer of travel any other animal or technology.

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

I find it funny that the South African Government in 2026 knows 'better' for me and denying Starlink services.

Veels very South African Government when they banned/kept TVs out of homes for decades.

[Rouen Smit @OSlOlSO]

Interesting: trams don't get more people out of their cars; it reduces the number of people walking. Might not be a good idea for Cape Town then.

[Yohan @yohaniddawela]

Building a tram network doesn’t get people out of their cars. It just stops them from walking.

Researchers analysed mobility data from nearly 400 European cities to understand how infrastructure changes daily commutes. They tracked three core categories: active mobility, public transport, and private cars. The goal was to isolate the exact impact of building a metro versus laying down tram tracks.

The data for underground metros perfectly matches urban planning theory. Cities with metro systems see a massive boost in public transport use and a direct drop in car journeys. Metros successfully convince drivers to leave their vehicles at home.

Trams show a completely different pattern. In cities that rely on trams but lack a metro, the car share remains heavily dominant. The drivers keep driving. The tram network completely fails to disrupt car dependency.

A Dirichlet regression model applied to the dataset reveals exactly who is actually riding the tram. The presence of a tram system correlates with a severe reduction in active mobility. The new public transport infrastructure merely convinces pedestrians and cyclists to buy a ticket and sit down.

Europe has 60 percent of the global tram network and generates 75 percent of total ridership. Governments fund these street-level programmes under the assumption they will fix traffic congestion and lower emissions. The data proves that assumption is entirely wrong.

If a city wants to pull cars off the road, it has to build a metro. Funding a tram line might look like a green victory on a political brochure. The reality is that it just destroys walking and cycling rates while leaving the traffic jams completely untouched.

Link to article: https://t.co/DMmiozFHJs

[Jozi vs Jozi @jozivsjozi]

https://t.co/NimEqX8MW0