Cape Town - Taxi association Codeta is canvassing members in response to the City
of Cape Town’s ultimatum regarding the operation of the MyCiTi N2
Express.
Last Thursday the City told shareholders of the N2 Express Company, which include taxi associations Codeta and Mitchells Plain Route Six, that it had set a September 28 deadline for the bus service to be reinstated, almost four months after it ground to a halt.
The city warned it would appoint a different company to operate the N2 Express Service. The city said engagements with the shareholders aimed at concluding a new agreement had failed to resolve the impasse.
Codeta launched an urgent court bid against the city and other parties including the transport minister and Western Cape MEC for
transport, seeking an interdict preventing the city from entering into a fresh or extended contract in respect of the bus service.
The Western Cape High Court rejected the application for the interdict, but ruled that other issues related to the application be heard at a later date, which is yet to be set.
The suspension of the N2 Express service has had a considerable impact on the Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain commuters.
A lawyer acting on behalf of Codeta, Barnabas Xulu, said following the city’s ultimatum, his client was seeking a mandate from its members on the next step as well as looking at other options.
He said the city was “aware of the sensitive” issues which had far-reaching implications but chose to overlook some aspects.
Although he would not divulge the nature of the issues, it’s understood that they were related to aspects of the contract and financial implications.
The N2 Express service which began operating from Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain to the Cape Town CBD in 2014 offered a critical transport option to the unreliable Metrorail service.
Codeta said it would make its decision known before the September 28 deadline.