A number of new MyCiti routes and bus stops will be introduced in Cape Town from October 27 onwards. The current MyCiti bus service covers an average of 1.5-million kilometres per month. With the planned changes this distance will be extended by 150 000km.
“Our transport planners recently conducted a review of the MyCiTi service and the passenger demand on the MyCiTi routes. The outcome of the review and the survey informed us of where we needed to tweak the service to respond to our commuters’ needs and to better match the service with the passenger demand,” Brett Herron, City of Cape Town Mayco member for Urban Development, said to Engineering News.
Some underused stops will also no longer be part of the service, and other routes will be replaced with new more direct routes to popular destinations.
A new route will serve District Six and Zonnebloem, three new stops will be added to serve the Parklands East area, a direct route will operate from Table View to Duinefontein via Melkbosstrand and a number of stops will be added to the routes in Atlantic to better serve the Beacon Hill and Sherwood areas.
Herron added that locals should note that all new stops will be temporary for the next few months as the City will monitor passenger demand and how suitable the locations are before spending money on more permanent infrastructure.
The new direct routes to destinations such as the V&A Waterfront and Sea Point are expected to be popular as no transfers will be required.
“Cities are constantly evolving and Cape Town is no different. People move around and adjust their lifestyles, and public transport services around the world must respond to these changes,” said Herron.
The MyCiti bus service transports an average of 60 913 passengers on a weekday. Since its launch in May 2010 until August 2018, about 89.4-million passengers have made use of the service.
MyCiTi buses also demonstrated great time management and consistency by departing and arriving on time and in accordance with the schedule 95% of the time.
Locals can look forward to new routes and stops that will hopefully encourage more residents to utilize public transport and reduce traffic congestion as well.
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