Cape Town shows off MYCiTi bus service

MYCiTi is the name of Cape Town's fledgling rapid transit system, it was revealed yesterday.

Proud city staff members and councillors yesterday unveiled the name and showed off two of the transport system's new buses.

The ceremony was held at the Granger Bay bus station near the Cape Town Stadium.

"We hope users of MYCiTi will feel a sense of belonging and ownership when they are passengers or refer to the service," said mayoral committee member for transport Elizabeth Thompson.

"I have butterflies... I am awestruck that this day actually came," she said.

Thompson travelled to South America less than three years ago to see how public transport systems there worked.

MYCiTi would change the face of public transport in the city, she said, but the achievement had not come without "tears, sweat and sacrifice".

She hoped that MYCiTi would become for Cape Town what the red bus was for London, and the yellow cab for New York.

Deputy mayor Ian Neilson said the delivery of the buses - 43 in total - was on schedule.

He said that the City of Cape Town hoped to launch the airport-to-city service by the end of the month.

The MYCiTi branding will be obscured for the duration of the World Cup.

However, the buses will be covered in advertising sold to provide additional funds to the project.

But city spokeswoman Kylie Hatton said Capetonians were likely to spot the MYCiTi buses before then.

In explaining the branding and naming of the service, the city said that MYCiTi was multilingual and easy on the tongue.

It said the "ribbon element" - a central theme in the design - represented how the service would "thread through the city, linking places and people to each other and to opportunity".

The ribbon was also an abstract interpretation of the shape of Devil's Peak, Table Mountain and Lion's Head.

The inspiration for the colour of the wording was drawn from the "many colours of the deep blue ocean that surrounds the Cape Peninsula".

The slogan, "Siyajikeleza. Laat Wiel. Going Places.", while related to transport, also represented other themes central to the transport system.

These themes included a "sense of achievement and going places in one's life", the city said.

Neilson said although the primary benefit of the service was for passengers, the wider benefit would extend to all residents and visitors.

The 43 buses will ferry visitors from the airport to and around the central city.

They will also provide a free shuttle service on match days for ticket holders.

The airport service is expected to launch on Saturday, May 29.

Cape Argus

Posted at 01:17PM May 07, 2010 by Editor in Cities and Towns  |  Comments[2]