Brett Herron
In 2010 we launched the first MyCiTi services as part of Phase 1A and since then a growing network of MyCiTi services and routes has been rolled out in the West Coast, including Atlantis, Melkbosstrand, Table View and Dunoon, as well as in Century City, the Cape Town CBD and City Bowl, and the Atlantic Seaboard and Hout Bay, including Hangberg and Imizamo Yethu.
Then in 2014 we launched the first routes for Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain – express routes to the Cape Town CBD via the N2.
The roll-out of this considerable network has begun to reshape the city’s urban landscape and the expectations of residents for quality public transport. It has encouraged transit-oriented development and prompted the formation of new businesses shaped from minibus-taxi associations.
A great deal has been accomplished in five years, and we have learnt many lessons. Now we are poised to take these to scale with Phase 2A of MyCiTi.
This phase will be four times the size of Phase 1 and will take approximately five years to roll out.
Phase 2A
The investment decisions we are making in public transport are increasingly informed by the evidence which shows that poor households, including those in the Phase 2A footprint, spend a much higher proportion of their monthly household income on transport than other households.
Transport for Cape Town (TCT) is committed to reducing the cost of the access priority for all households, particularly poor and working families who travel long distances to reach places of work, and spend between 40 and 70 percent of their household income on access.
Our Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN) Plan 2032, adopted unanimously by Council in 2014, aims to halve the cost of access in the coming decades.
Phase 2 comprises two ambitious trunk services and a network of 34 feeder routes. Collectively, these routes will traverse a considerable proportion of the city, touching the lives of 1.4 million people.
The development of a concept design for the Lansdowne-Wetton Corridor routes is now at an advanced stage, and is being presented to stakeholders and communities before detailed design work gets under way.
The characteristics of the proposed corridor are as follows:
New trunk routes
Trunk 1 will transport commuters from Mitchells Plain to Claremont along a 25km route. Trunk 2 will transport commuters from Khayelitsha to Wynberg along a 35km route. The two trunk routes share an 8km segment, providing several transfer opportunities.
The trunk routes will extend from Chris Hani railway station in Makhaza, Khayelitsha, along Govan Mbeki Road and Ottery Road to Wynberg, and from Kapteinsklip railway station in Mitchells Plain, again along Govan Mbeki Road and along Lansdowne Road to Claremont.
These two trunk or main routes will traverse a number of suburbs.
These will include Philippi East, Ikwezi Park, Nonqubela, Khayelitsha CBD, Litha Park, Mandela Park, Harare, Kuyasa, Enkanini, Manenberg, Sweet Homes, Gugulethu, Brown’s Farm, Nyanga, Philippi, Crossroads, Wynberg, Plumstead, Royal Cape, Ottery East, Ottery, Turf Hall Estate, Lansdowne, Hanover Park, Lentegeur, Beacon Valley, Eastridge, Mitchells Plain CBD, Tafelsig, Claremont, Kenilworth, Rondebosch East, Kenwyn, Crawford, and Wetton.
The majority of these trunk routes will take the form of a dedicated busway, or what we have come to know as the red road in Cape Town. This will allow the buses to travel unimpeded by other traffic, giving priority to public transport.
On parts of the route, achieving this will require the use of the proclaimed road reserve.
A journey together
It will take around five years to get Phase 2A operational, based on financial allocations from the national government, with the aim of starting services in 2020. To achieve this will take hard work and some tough decisions will have to be made along the way, as is the case with such large projects that seek to radically transform the urban landscape and quality of life for so many.
There will be major roadworks all along the routes and traffic will be diverted – permanently in some places – to accommodate the new trunk routes. Some private property will unfortunately have to be expropriated – but this will be kept to a minimum. Where there are historical road schemes along the corridor, we have opted for these in order to avoid expropriation.
Change is inevitable if we are to make progress, but we believe the end result will be worth it.
The first impacts have already been felt in South Road in Wynberg, where City-owned properties in the road reserve are being demolished.
Much of the current public discussion of Phase 2A has centred on this portion of the 52 km corridor in South Road – a historic road scheme and part of the City’s approved road network plan.
We regret the impact that the decision to proceed with the South Road route has had on the tenants in these properties. However, none can claim that they were unaware that the houses they are renting are located in a historic road scheme, and that the City reserved the right to develop as such.
It goes without saying that tenants, no matter who they rent from, do not have permanent rights.
The leases that the City signs with tenants living in properties located in road schemes point out that the premises may be required by the City for road construction or widening purposes.
These tenants therefore all acknowledged that in the future they would have to make way for this road. They were aware of it, and they agreed to it when they signed those leases.
Road schemes are an important part of effective city planning. As cities grow and change, infrastructure requirements need to be altered. Road schemes are developed to protect right of way for future use and accommodate growth in transport demand.
Cape Town has 111 approved road schemes. Approximately 368 City-owned properties are located in these road schemes and are currently leased out.
If we are no longer able to count on tenants in those properties to comply with their leases and vacate those properties when the time comes to build the respective roads, then our city is destined for failure since we will not be able to provide the critical infrastructure needed to provide mobility to a rapidly growing city.
With respect to South Road, the City has offered to find alternative accommodation for those lease-holders who are in good standing, and this offer remains on the table.
Phase 2A and Wynberg
The implementation of Phase 2A has significant implications for Wynberg, and they are overwhelmingly positive – as is the case for the other suburbs that will benefit from Phase 2A.
Wynberg is an increasingly busy and congested portion of the southern suburbs. It lies alongside Claremont – an area that has benefited from a decade-long ongoing boom, fuelled by well-planned public and private development. In contrast, significant parts of Wynberg are congested, car-clogged areas with poor pedestrian and cycle access and inadequate integration between different public transport modes.
At the same time, Wynberg is a popular destination for both public transport users and those in private vehicles, owing to high volumes of people and a mix of land uses, combined with economic opportunities, government facilities, quality schools and range of retail and residential property. Traffic and pedestrian volumes will continue to grow, whether we plan for them or not.
The proposed Phase 2A infrastructure provides a catalyst for improvements that will impact Wynberg positively.
Key to this is the provision of reliable, scheduled public transport in the form of MyCiTi services; good integration with rail; and pedestrian and cycle infrastructure.
It is in this context that the City has proposed the South Road link that will improve access from the metro south-east to Wynberg. This is the best available option for achieving better linkages between the suburbs of the south-east and Wynberg and other parts of the city. It is also an important linkage between parts of the city that were in the past divided by the Group Areas Act under apartheid.
The majority of commuters travelling to Wynberg are heading towards destinations on the western side of the railway line and the alignment via South Road, and the proposed Brodie Road Couplet to the Wynberg public transport interchange allows passengers to be dropped closer to their destination.
Furthermore, the South Road option provides greater geographical coverage and community reach within the corridor.
Should we change the course of the routes to run along Rosmead Avenue and Broad Road, as proposed by the South Road Families Association, up to 27 privately owned properties would have to be expropriated and demolished: one property in Brisbane Road, six properties in Brentwood Road, four properties in Ottery Road, seven properties in Ross Road and nine properties in Rosmead Avenue.
The Brodie Road Couplet
The City has also proposed the implementation of set of parallel one-way streets – using Brodie and Main roads – in order to unclog and revitalise Main Road. This proposal was first developed in 2002, in response to the economic decline in Wynberg, and a couplet was confirmed as a key element in the regeneration of the Wynberg CBD.
Instead of widening Main Road, which might provide for more lanes of traffic but would have mean that heritage buildings would be lost, the couplet allows for a more efficient traffic flow by making part of Main Road a one-way – with Brodie Road accommodating traffic in the other direction.
The proposed couplet will double the traffic capacity through Wynberg, enabling the MyCiTi service and other road users to move through this area at a more efficient speed during the peak traffic periods. The couplet will also improve access to this area, which has seen very little investment over the past two decades because of a lack of transport access and congestion.
With more feet and movement in Wynberg, trade in the CBD will increase, as will new developments, job creation and much needed urban renewal.
The details of this proposal will be subject to a process of public engagement planned for this year, and we look forward to the opportunity to discuss this in detail with members of the public and stakeholders. We will then have more detailed proposals to share with the public.
Conclusion
In the coming months and years, the City will be talking regularly to communities about the various stages of the Phase 2A project as well the specifics of each area where efficient, safe and affordable public transport matters most.
From May 22 to the end of June 2015, a series of 29 public open days will be held to inform residents along the proposed routes about the expansion of MyCiTi services in the Lansdowne-Wetton Corridor.
We will continue to engage with those directly affected in one way or another. Many residents are excited about this initiative that moves towards an integrated transport system for Cape Town.
Not everyone will be happy all of the time, but as a City we believe that we can make progress possible together.
l Herron is the Mayoral Committee Member: Transport for Cape Town