For the past year or more I have watched them digging up the road in front of us, re-building the road for normal traffic, and building a new, bright pink road down the middle of the road from TableView to Cape Town. I watched them building stations in the middle of the road, high up with ramps and platforms, and wondered if the buses that were to stop here would be like trains. And the traffic light systems have changed. We all have to learn to drive a little differently - no more waiting in the middle of the road to turn right, and the speed restrictions along this route have been reduced.
They landscaped and planted flowers between the two bright pink lanes, and along the edge of the newly moved roads. They put in irrigation systems to water the plants and provide a pretty show of flowers. They sent workers in to keep miles and miles of garden looking lovely.
And then the road was complete, the stations were complete - but nothing happened. No buses drove these brand new bright pink roads, and stopped at the lovely frosted glass and red pillared stations. We had to listen to the Taxi Drivers demanding their share of the IRT, and the negotiations between the city and the taxi drivers, and we all wondered why the taxi drivers should hold such power in this city of ours as to halt the end to something that has cost us, the tax payers (which does not include the taxi drivers) millions of rands.
But finally the new buses arrived, and drivers were trained and sent out on the roads to practice pulling in to exactly the right position at each station and we now have a functioning IRT. I tried it out yesterday, and it makes me proud to be Capetonian! I am very impressed and I will definitely use it again. It is a clean and efficient service, and the staff are polite, friendly and helpful, and seem to be trained to take pride in being on time. There is a bus every 10 minutes at peak times, and every 20 minutes off peak times, so if one arrives at the station as the bus is pulling out, you know you won't have to wait more than 20 minutes for the next bus to arrive. The landscaped gardens all along the route make all the difference especially as part of the route serves some industrial areas that were until recently extremely shabby and run down.
And the service is very affordable at only R10 for the trunk route plus up to two feeder routes or R5 for each additional feeder route.
I had an opportunity to be a Tourist in my own Town, and I can't wait to do it again now that the MyCiti IRT makes it feasible. And for my guests staying in AtlanticSunsets, what could be more convenient than simply walking over the road to the IRT station in order to get to Cape Town, and then on to the Waterfront, or Gardens using one of the feeder routes, or to go north to Tableview and use the feeder route to the beachfront areas. And how much more convenient to get to the airport using this system than to have to sit in traffic and stress about getting there on time.
Congratulations MyCiti and the City of Cape Town.
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