Blackheath, Cape Town - The city is spending R82 million on 20 MyCiTi buses - and they're being built in a local factory.
The new buses will be used on the next phase of the MyCiTi N2 Express service, set to be rolled out at the end of June 2015. The 18-metre 'bendy buses' have front and rear passenger cabins with a concertina-like joint and can carry 112 passengers, while the 12-metre buses can seat 75.
These are not the first buses the city has ordered locally. So far 62 of the MyCiTi fleet have been assembled at Busmark - 20 low-floor 12-metre buses and 42 Scania 12-metre high-floor buses - and they're in use on the Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Atlantis and Table View routes.
On Monday mayoral committee member for transport Brett Herron visited the Blackheath plant to see the progress being made in building the 18-metre buses. He said the city was proud that the buses were being built locally, and that 50 businesses were part of the supply chain.
All the steel components, the painting, electrical and mechanical system installations, windows and mirrors are locally sourced and manufactured, and the plant has provided employment for 300 local residents.
“This means the residents and businesses from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha are building the very same buses in which their families, friends and neighbours will be riding in the near future,” Herron said.
MEETING THE CHALLENGE
Busmark staffer Norman Roman said this was the first time that 18-metre buses were being built in South Africa. The positioning of the engine, transmission and cooling system was very different from that of the conventional buses, he said, and there had been some challenges, but the Busmark workers had the necessary expertise to meet them.
Philippi resident Zifikile Sikade said she was unemployed before getting a job in the factory's body building department.
“I started this job last year and things were difficult before then but now I'm able to support my family,” she said.
She said people don't believe that she is building MyCiTi buses because “they see it as a man's job”.
“Even my male colleagues didn't think I could do the job at first and I had to constantly prove myself. But now they treat me as an equal.”
She encouraged more women to get into engineering, saying jobs are “no longer exclusive” these days.
Zoleka Bena from Blackheath, who works as a cleaner at the factory, said life was really hard for her family before she found work.
“My husband and I were both unemployed before I got this job. We survived on our children's grants, which was never enough.”
When the Busmark factory was built in Blackheath in 2014, it was intended to benefit local residents and Bena was one of them.
“I don't use any money to come to work. I live close by. It takes me 10 minutes to walk. Even if I don't have money, I am always at work,” added Bena.
Cape Times, Cape Argus.