Cape Town turns focus to MyCiTi after rail impasse

Cape Town has budgeted R5.2bn to expand its MyCiTi bus service for commuters over the next three years after attempts to take over the local rail service from the national government failed.

The new plan, approved by Council a week before Thursday’s taxi strike, enables the city to apply for Public Transport Network Grant funding from the national government.

MMC Rob Quintas of the DA said the plan “maximises funding sources, addresses projected deficits, and serves as a road map to uplifting our transportation landscape — currently more crucial than ever, with a collapsed passenger rail service, together with unprecedented growth in the metro”.

The dysfunctional Metrorail system is operated by the Passenger Rail Agency SA (Prasa) but the national department of transport has snubbed the city’s attempts to take control of running the service. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis on Thursday said the city will embark on an intergovernmental dispute resolution process after Prasa refused to sign a service level agreement.

Quintas said the city was in the meantime committed to the long-term financial sustainability of the MyCiTi and Dial-a-Ride services which aim to provide “safe, reliable, efficient, and universally accessible public transport ... that redresses apartheid spatial planning, bringing people closer to opportunities”.

Dial-a-Ride is a dedicated kerb-to-kerb service for people with disabilities who are unable to access mainstream public transport services.

King of the roads

The plan states the main modes of public transport in the city are MyCiTi, Dial-a-Ride, the privately run Golden Arrow Bus Services (Gabs), minibus taxis, and Metrorail.

According to the city’s most recent Comprehensive Integrated Transport Plan, as many as 58% of commuters use private vehicles to get to their destinations; 22% use minibus taxis; and 9% bus services such as MyCiTi and GABS; Just 2% use rail (a 95% decline from 2012 to 2022); and almost 10% are pedestrians.

Quintas said that the cost of operating MyCiTi service have risen sharply due to the big increases in fuel prices since mid-2022. As a result, MyCiTi has reduced less popular routes to remain within its operating budget.

MyCiTi tariffs would now be adjusted as many as five times a year, instead of three times, to cope with higher operating costs, he said.

“This will allow for more frequent adjustments to fares in response to changing fuel prices to ensure the sustainability of the service which is a key responsibility of this directorate,” Quintas said.

The delivery of MyCiTi southeast services connecting commuters from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha with Wynberg and Claremont was “well under way”.

The R5.2bn allocated to the project — known as Phase 2A — over the next three years, makes it the biggest public transport infrastructure project in the Western Cape. “A further R57m has been budgeted for a new MyCiTi station in Maitland that will form part of route extensions between Dunoon, Maitland and Century City in coming years,” Quintas said

The city also plans to introduce new stops in Khayelitsha, while the proposed integration of the minibus-taxi industry and an integrated ticketing system working across all the different modes of public transport was still being investigated.

It would “take considerable time to come to fruition, given the absence of a fully functional passenger rail service in Cape Town,” Quintas said.

Cyclists and walkers

Phase 2A includes a R455m allocation for cycling and walking over the next three financial years. Further details weren’t given, other than

Roland Postma, MD of the Young Urbanist and Active Mobility Forum, said non-motorised transport was vital to making the city more accessible. Many more safe and protected pedestrian walkways and cycling lanes were needed, he said.

Postma said MyCiTi expansion was crucial but it faces a number of challenges such as rising fuel prices, which had led to frequent cuts in routes and even the cancellation of entire routes such as the airport shuttle route.

He said the forum was “deeply concerned” about some aspects of the design of Phase 2A, though it would “act as a feeder system to other public transportation nodes, such as the Southern and Central lines”.

The inclusion of high-quality non-motorised transport infrastructure within the Phase 2A design, such as separate paths for cyclists and pedestrians, was “a significant achievement that must be noted and celebrated”.

An integrated ticketing system was important in creating a reliable, safe and accessible multi-use public transportation system. But for it to be achieved, “all spheres of government need to work together with the private sector such as taxi and e-micro-mobility companies. The focus should be to make MyCiTi accessible when it comes to buying a ticket or topping up.”

GroundUp