MyCiTi commuters will have to dig deep into their pockets next month when increased fares come into effect on Saturday July 1.
Last week, the City of Cape Town announced the introduction of new fares across all MyCiTi routes as part of their annual budget for the new financial year. The increase is also aimed at covering operational costs for the service.
The City, however, said it will keep the prices “affordable” through its Mover travelling packages and off peak hour savings.
The City has urged commuters to load Mover packages on their myconnect card. Commuters can buy the Mover package from MyCiTi kiosks, which offers them lower fares or rates and can apparently save commuters 30% on fares. From the beginning of next month, the Mover R30 will be replaced by the Mover R35 and there are also new additional Mover packages such as Mover R60 and Mover R300 and a monthly pass for R780, which allows commuters unlimited travel anywhere.
Brett Herron, the mayoral committee member for transport and urban development, said of the approximately 192 000 passengers who use MyCiTi between Mitchell’s Plain, Khayelitsha and the Civic Centre station, about 60 percent are from Khayelitsha.
Mr Herron added that the City intended to roll out Phase 2 of the project in Khayelitsha, at a cost of about R1.4 million.
The phase will link Khayelitsha and Mitchell’s Plain with Wynberg and Claremont.
Roadworks in preparation of the roll-out of Phase 2 and other future phases have commenced along Strandfontein Road and Stock Road recently.
However, the time it will take to get the work done will be dependent on financial allocations from the national government
Mr Herron said the approved trunk or main routes will traverse a number of suburbs including Philippi East, Ikwezi Park, Nonkqubela, Khayelitsha CBD, Litha Park, Mandela Park, Harare, Kuyasa, Enkanini, Manenberg, Sweet Homes, Gugulethu, Brown’s Farm, Nyanga, Philippi and Crossroads.
He said currently the DO1 bus operating from Khayelitsha commences in Kuyasa with stops along Lindela Road, another four stops along Japhta Masemola Road with the final stop along Spine Road.
He adds that the D02 route in Khayelitsha West starts from Kuyasa with 10 sets of bus stops along Ntlazane Road, Spine Road, and Mew Way.
Mr Herron said the biggest challenge was meeting the demand for the MyCiTi N2 express service between Khayelitsha and the Cape Town CBD during peak-hour periods.
He said they tried to meet the demands within the limited resources.
Mr Herron also lashed out at the vandalism of My CiTi infrastructure and called on communities to work with them to protect their bus stops and other facilities.
He said sometimes they have to enforce route deviations due to violent protests and these deviations are done in the interest of the safety of commuters and personnel.
Delton Ndongeni, the spokesperson for Public Voice Transport (PVT), said they have submitted a submission to the City about the bus fare increase to which they have not received a response.
He said they want government to establish a body that would regulate public transport price increases so that service providers would stop increasing prices without consulting commuters.
Mr Ndongeni said the majority of people living in the township spend about 40 percent of their salaries on transport.
He said service providers can’t increase prices while the country is still battling to meet the minimun wage required by workers.
Commuter Anele Dladlothi said he was spending about R600 a month on transport and with the MyCiTi increase it now means he has to dig deeper into his pockets.
He said he used to take the train but because of delays and safety issues, he opted to use MyCiTi due to its reliability and safety.
