Finding Atlantis: Cape Town Reconnects

During South Africa’s apartheid era, many black residents were forced to live in townships far from the economic center of Cape Town. Years after the end of apartheid, township residents still face long and often treacherous commutes to the city center. Affordable, safe, and reliable public transportation is vital to Cape Town’s ability to improve the economic prospects and quality of life for these township residents. This article describes how Cape Town’s new Integrated Rapid Transit (IRT) system is becoming an instrumental factor in creating a more compact, connected, and integrated city. It is hoped that the system can reduce some of the economic and social divisions of the apartheid era. The centerpiece of the IRT system initiative is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system called MyCiTi that will complement the existing suburban rail network. MyCiTi’s first bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor opened in May 2011 and runs along the city’s west coast, from Table View to the downtown Civic Center. It will eventually connect Table View to Atlantis, a township located about 30 miles (50 km) away from Cape Town. The city chose this corridor to help reinvigorate the poverty- and crime-ridden township. This area also presented the city’s best opportunity to incorporate the existing but informal minibus system into formal companies and partner with them to operate services in the new transit corridor. So far the BRT system has been a success, attracting a significant new market from former automobile drivers. Using BRT is proving to be more cost-effective for customers. The system is also bringing improved travel reliability to low- to middle- income residents for whom arriving at work on time is critical. Although daily ridership is currently under 13,000 passengers, ridership is expected to increase to over 100,000 passengers as extensions to service are opened. The system is breaking new ground in other ways as well. It incorporates a 16-km bikeway parallel to the BRT corridor. More cycleways are planned for the future. Cape Town plans to open a new BRT service by December 2013 to connect other townships. Although future expansions may be contentious due to the chaotic and occasionally violent current situation with the minibus drivers, the goal of expansion is encouraging.