CAPE TOWN - The news that progress has been made in getting the long-awaited MyCiTi N2 Express a step-closer to being reinstated has been widely welcomed.
The embattled MyCiTi N2 Express has been at a standstill since May 2019 when the City failed to reach an agreement over its operation before the contract with the N2 Express Joint Venture (JV) Vehicle Operating Company shareholders, including the Golden Arrow Bus Service (Gabs), Codeta and Route 6 Taxi Association, lapsed.
While the City has not stated a time frame on when it expects the bus service, which provides more than 200 000 passenger trips a month, to be fully operational.
In September it said Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain residents could expect to see buses on the road by the first quarter of 2022.
City Executive Director for Transport Dalene Campbell said it successfully concluded the supply chain management process that allows the administration to now enter into a contract with the JV company that has operated the service since its inception in July 2014.
“The City is confident and optimistic that the next phase of the process, namely to conclude the contract with the JV, will yield a positive outcome. The City will be able to provide more information once the next phase of this process has been concluded,” said Campbell.
The Khayelitsha Development Forum (KDF) said it was hoping there would be no further delays on the official date for resuming the service as no time frame had been given.
KDF chairperson Nditini Tyhido said: “It is encouraging to know there is some sort of action now. This is important to the people of Khayelitsha and we believe there needs to be a multiplicity of modes of transport which includes taxis and trains. We are hoping that the issues that have stood out, in relation to the payment of the local feeders by the City and issuing of permits have been resolved.”
According to Tyhido these were among the main problems that brought the services to a halt.
“We believe there should be no discrimination in how the city treats the feeders. The MyCiTi return is going to elevate the already strenuous and over burdened system in the area.”
Transport and Public Works committee chairperson in the provincial legislature Ricardo Mackenzie said the MyCiTi bus service was an important component in the Metro's public transport cluster.
Good party MPL Brett Herron said the province's public transport network was in crisis.
“The impact of a failing transport network is extensive, retarding economic growth, increasing cost of living, entrenching inequality and exclusion and increasing our carbon emissions. The MyCiTi N2 Express was highly successful and warranted expansion especially as the Metrorail system was collapsing.”
Herron said the bus services should never have been allowed to be grounded for nearly 3 years.
“We encourage the City to act with urgency to resolve this and to add additional capacity and frequency to these routes.”
Cape Times