Cape Town – The MyCiTi N2 Express Service should be back on the road by January.
This is when the City expects all the t’s to have been crossed and the i’s to have been dotted on a new operating contract between the City and the N2 Express Joint Venture operating company.
The company is owned by Lisekhonikamva, Mitchells Plain Rapid Transit and Golden Arrow Bus Services.
At its last council meeting for the year, the City unanimously approved the Urban Mobility (formerly Transport) Directorate’s request to grant the N2 Company the right to use and manage the 34 City-owned buses to provide the N2 Express Service.
The N2 Express Service was first introduced in July 2014 and was suspended in May 2019, due to contractual issues.
Mayco Member for Urban Mobility Rob Quintas said that the next step is for the City and the N2 Company to sign the operating contract.
Once the contract has been signed by all parties, the fleet of 34 buses, a combination of 12-metre low-floor buses and 18-metre low-floor buses, will be serviced and prepared for operations, and bus drivers recruited and trained.
“We have reached a critical milestone in getting the MyCiTi N2 Express Service back on the road, hopefully by January 2022.
“This is a major achievement that will benefit thousands of commuters from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha who are travelling to the Cape Town CBD for work and other opportunities.
“In August this year, I made the commitment that the City will do everything possible to return the service to commuters from the metro-south east.
"Following months of hard work by officials, all is set to deliver on this promise,” he said.
Quintas said he would make a public announcement when there was certainty about the starting date and that in the meantime, the directorate was assessing all of the bus shelters along the four routes in Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha for urgent maintenance and repairs.
ANC caucus leader Xolani Sotashe has cast doubts on the service’s speedy return to the road due to budgetary concerns and delays.
He said that the directorate was underspending by R69 million and had got a net negative variance, which is an accumulation of slower than anticipated expenditure on a number of projects, the most significant of which is the integrated rapid transit (IRT) Phase 2.
“That thing will not be delivered next year, he is talking nonsense. By their own admission, construction has been delayed on the IRT phase 2A, which is depot building work in Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha. This is due to the cancellation of the replacement professional services tender,” Sotashe said.
Good party councillor Mark Rountree said that while the party welcomed signs that the N2 Express may finally be getting back on the road again, the critical, but barely functional rail service could not be ignored.
“In the past, the City has bravely taken on the national government, fighting for the right to procure renewable electricity and fighting to stop e-Tolls in Cape Town.
“In both cases, these important battles have been won. It is very disappointing that this administration is now backing away from the fight for rail services,” he said.
The City said that once operational, the N2 Express Service will again operate along four MyCiTi routes in Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha:
- D01 between Khayelitsha East and the Civic Centre
- D02 between Khayelitsha West and the Civic Centre
- D03 between Mitchells Plain East and the Civic Centre; and
- D04 between Kapteinsklip, the Mitchells Plain Town Centre and the Civic Centre
The buses will travel to the Civic Centre station in the Cape Town CBD via the N2 freeway.