Cape Town's IRT system to roll on Monday
The City of Cape Town announced that its much-vaunted IRT (Integrated Rapid Transit) system is to be launched next Monday from Table View to the city centre.
Mayoral committee member for transport Elizabeth Thompson confirmed to the committee that negotiations between the city and three operators (from the taxi industry and bus companies) had been concluded and that the parties would sign a deal tomorrow.
A phased roll-out has been proposed to minimise risk and to allow training of staff and education of the public.
The system will start with off-peak trunk service (9am to 3pm) in Table View from May 9 to 13, followed by inner-city feeders from May 14 to 22 (5.45am to 10pm). Additional feeders will be introduced in Table View from May 21.
Cllr Thompson told the committee that negotiations between the city and three operators (from the taxi industry and bus companies) had been concluded.
According to the city's IRT business plan, eight taxi associations and two bus companies were involved in negotiations, and the value of their contracts would be determined, among other things, based on their relative share of the existing market.
Existing operators can choose to become part of the MyCiTi service or to be compensated for the business they will lose when the MyCiTi buses start operating.
Thompson said the city would spend R200 million on the service in the next year, while it expected to make R63m from the service in the next few years.
The operators would sign a 12-year-contract, said Thompson.
City spokeswoman Kylie Hatton also confirmed that negotiations, which started about two years ago, had been concluded.
Last month, after three delays, the city announced that the IRT service would be launched this month, and that it was well on its way towards having all operator agreements for the interim service in place by the end of April.
At the time, Hatton said the city was "working towards a targeted launch date in early May", but that it was reluctant to commit to a date.
She said two "highly skilled negotiators" had been appointed to forge a deal with the taxi industry and bus companies involved.
"Negotiations with existing industry roleplayers and project contractors have been complex and lengthy and have taken longer than anticipated," she said.
The route operators consist of the affected bus and minibus taxi organisations operating on the route, explained Hatton.
"The formal appointment of operators can only be processed once negotiations are completed," she said.
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.
Western Cape National Taxi Alliance spokesman Mvuyisi Mente said it was "unfortunate" that only certain roleplayers within the industry had been consulted.
He said the alliance was disappointed that only a few were called into a boardroom with the city for discussions.
Cape Argus
Posted at 07:37AM May 05, 2011 by Editor in Cities and Towns |