75 IRT drivers ready to roll as Cape commuters await launch date

The City of Cape Town has been training 75 drivers for its IRT (Integrated Rapid Transit) system ahead of tomorrow's mayoral committee meeting where a decision on its launch is expected to be made.

On a media tour on one of the buses from the Civic Centre in Cape Town to Table View today, city spokeswoman Kylie Hatton confirmed that a decision was expected tomorrow.

The city had earlier said the service would be open to the public from May 9.

But the city has been in protracted negotiations with taxi owners about the amount of compensation it will pay them.

On the 16km trip from the Civic Centre to Table View station, Hatton said the drivers training to work on the MyCiTi shuttles were from taxi associations that already operated on the route.

"They belong to taxi associations that are currently operating between the city centre and Atlantis.

" The associations have formed one company, which is contracted by the city," said Hatton.

Also present on the bus was Ronald Haiden, manager of MyCiTi infrastructure, who explained that the main aim of the project was to present the public transport system as an alternative to driving a car. Haiden said each of the 42 buses could carry up to 140 people.

He said there would be parking as well as drop-and-go areas along the route.

There are 13 stations between the civic centre and Table View.

Haiden said they had estimated that the population in the area was going to increase in the next decade or so: "The area will grow by between 20 000 to 70 000 people.

"The issue is that we do not have the space to build more roads. For the area to grow it is dependent on a good public transport system and that is why we have built the red lanes."

He explained that another important aspect of the IRT was to link the MyCiTi to existing public transport routes.

There would also be nine inner-city feeder routes, including Camps Bay, Hout Bay and the Sea Point CBD.

Hatton said they would also link areas such as Atlantis, Melkbosstrand and Dunoon through a feeder bus route.

She said the feeder buses would operate in normal traffic and take people from these areas to bring them to the MyCiTi bus route.

This morning, after the bus drove into the Woodbridge station and everyone disembarked to allow Hatton and her team to explain how the road signal there worked, a man driving towards Cape Town in the traffic shouted: "Where is the bus?"

The City of Cape Town has been testing the new IRT bus routes since last month, in a bid to address any problems before the launch.

The city has also tested timetables to try to ensure they would be as accurate as possible.

The names of bus stops will have historical, geographical or cultural significance.

A total of 300 bus stop shelters are expected to be included in phase 1.

The planned hours of operation are weekdays from 5.45am to 10pm.

"We will have six buses every hour," said Haiden.

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