Erika Welz, Camps Bay
I am writing to express my disappointment at the route change of the 106 MyCiTi bus. Previously it had run from town through Camps Bay and back, clockwise. Now it just circles Camps Bay and requires a change to the 107 to reach town.
This is a change for the worse – it pretty much doubles the trip time to town on those 106 routes. For the reasonably fit walker it is almost quicker to walk to a 107 stop (at some times even to town directly) than it is to take the 106 bus.
For the frail or disabled the 106 has now also become unusable – the recommended change is to leave the 107 at Kevnor Court, cross the busy Geneva Drive and then wait at Comrie.
Remarkable effort has been made to have the buses and bus stops accommodate the disabled. The buses have motorised ramps, the bus stops have markings to help the blind and dropped kerbs to help the wheelchair-bound.
This expenditure is all wasted though, because anybody needing these facilities will struggle to cross Geneva Drive in order to reach the Comrie stop.
Changing somewhere on Victoria Road is not much easier, but increases the trip time even more.
So with this route change you have made the 106 route unavailable for two large category users – the fit and the frail.
One suspects this is already reflected in reduced passenger numbers, and I hope you haven’t incorrectly concluded that the 106 route is underused. I strongly urge you to please reinstate the old route.
* Brett Herron, mayoral committee member for transport, responds:
The City made some changes to the MyCiTi Routes 106 and 107 in April last year when we refurbished Camps Bay Drive over a period of seven months.
During that time the buses along the MyCiTi Route 106 operated as an internal shuttle in Camps Bay, serving as a feeder service to Route 107 which was the only route operating between the city centre and Camps Bay.
During the construction period we observed that having one high-frequency route (Route 107) operating to Camps Bay and back, instead of the previous two routes which operated in a clockwise and anti-clockwise direction, better served commuters within Camps Bay.
We have since then kept these changes and indications are that the current system better serves the Camps Bay passengers as it now offers a more direct high frequency service to the Cape Town central business district.
The service is universally accessible to commuters with special needs at the stops along Victoria Road where the two services (Route 106 and Route 107) connect.
Transport for Cape Town, the City’s transport authority, will continue to monitor the routes, but at this stage these changes seem to be working well.