Cape Town - Cape drivers have shared their views on the City's traffic congestion problem after a report submitted to council revealed that City will need to invest R250million a year over the next 20 years to alleviate the problem.
With a failing passenger rail transport system, more motorists are using the city’s roads, and according to a report before the city council’s transport directorate, there will be no respite from the high degree of congestion in the foreseeable future.
Here are some of the suggestions and opinions that drivers have shared as a way for the city to fix the problem:
Keenan Herborn
- Solution is simple: Remove all taxis from road (They cause congestion by cutting in and out of lanes from all directions) and beef up rail and bus industry!
Asavela Peko - What must then people use when going to work if taxis would be removed in your own view?
Keenan Herborn - New and improved bus and rail services as they do in most other countries around the world.
Mohammad Saeed Hassan - Unlike Metrorail and Golden Arrow and MyCiTi the taxis actually get you to work on time. They're people who work for their own money. That's the difference. Take a train to work for a week and you've lost your job.
Keenan Herborn - Hence I said improving train and bus services will alleviate traffic.
Cylester Smith - Removing taxis won’t fix the problem....I’m driving in peak traffic everyday and not only noticed bad taxi behaviour but also regular drivers disobeying the rules. It may take decades for our public transport infrastructure to recover, I think we should give taxis the benefit of doubt. If we have more visible law enforcement officers (non corrupt) that immediately enforces the law, I think driver behaviour will improve. The points system may fix this, also immediately impounding, not only taxis I may add, but also regular vehicles, may send out a strong message that if you disobey the laws, face the consequences of losing your prize possession.....be it your driving license or motor vehicle.
Steve McClinton
- During school holidays traffic is not a problem.... how about government funding school taxis, how about bicycle incentives like they do in the Netherlands?
Tayyeb Basha
- R250 million of which R100 million will be stolen by corrupt officials so double that 20 year period or put a pause after year one for an official investigation which will last about 5 years. So best thing to do is get a motorbike.
Keith Lotz
- The government is so focused on looting whatever it can...it has lost focus on building a nation.
Stuart Mcintyre -
This should have been done 10+ years ago. Always wake up late to resolve this mess. Took me 40 minutes yesterday (Thursday) to go through Brooklyn to M5. Insane at the inter change.
Theo Schuurmans -
We are very disappointed at the slow pace, and they must find a better way to address an issue like this. It puzzles me that they have not focused on the Khayelitsha and Delft areas that have been complaining about traffic congestion for years, but they are quick to address this issue in affluent areas.
Mayoral committee member for transport Felicity Purchase said the city council was following a multi-pronged approach to address traffic congestion in general and provide new road infrastructure in the worst affected areas.
“We are working on establishing an efficient, affordable, extensive and intermodal public transport system and changing commuters’ travelling patterns,” she said.
“As we are adding capacity to the existing road network to provide some form of relief in the severely congested areas of the city, we are also working on establishing an efficient, affordable, extensive and intermodal public transport system.”
Cape Argus