"Our plan to keep Cape Town moving"

[John Ashworth]

Attached

Our plan to keep Cape Town moving - Robin Carlisle

WC transport minister says more road building would be counter-productive

Address to the Cape Town Press Club by Robin Carlisle, Western Cape Minister of Transport,

8 March 2010

MY VISION TO CREATE A WORLD- CLASS PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

[Luca Lategan]

Só bek moet jêm kry!

[Dylan Knott]

The day I can commute between home and the waterfront without fear of crime, will be great! Currently the biggest problem is getting from the station to work! So ja will support public transport upgrade!

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

We need 200 train sets not 7000 taxi's. I thought the plan was to take vehicles off the road. We were promised a passenger line through the Montegue Gardens line down to Atlantis which would cover the whole of the Atlantic Seaboard as well as Summer Greens, Bothasig, Richwood,Edgemead and Sanddrift. This was supposed to be up and running by 2005. The infrastructure is all in place. The reason given that there were not enough sets and the Main line would not be able to cope with the extra traffic. So we have to use unsafe taxi's or our cars. "A no brainer choice" if you wish to reach your destination alive.

[Luca Lategan]

Isn't the BRT replacing the railway line? Found it interesting the other day that the Atlantis line was only built circa 1984.

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

The line to Montegu Gardens was built in the 70's when the Main line through Windermere and Monte Vista was built. It was later extended to Atlantis

[Steve Appleton]

Good pics of Strasbourg trams by John Ashworth on this forum at http://www.friendsoftherail.com/phpBB2/ ... 256&t=6930.
Rather this than the BRT. At least this could be expanded and developed into multiple-unit light rail and then into a full-on metro system. BRT cannot. This could in theory also use the existing Metrorail and TFR tracks if the same gauge is chosen, or else lift the unused tracks and replace with new tram tracks.

[Luca Lategan]

The worst about all this is that Cape Town AND most other cities in SA HAD electric trams and trolley busses during the first half of the 20th century, why oh why did it take us 50+ years to learn from our mistakes?

Sea point for example had an electric train service, an electric tram line PLUS an electric bus service with clipcards (Contactless smart ticketing comes to mind), special lunch time services and late night trains for theater go-ers. Milnerton also had a rail link (The 'monument' commemorating the location of the Milnerton station had to make way for the new, 2billion rand BRT road). Not to mention the 160km/h Metro Blitz service during the early 80's.

The only thing that we can hope for is that we don't discard these services again after 30 years, only to again rebuild it in the 22nd century...

[John Ashworth]

Same in UK, Luca. There were tram and trolley bus systems all over the country. By the late 1950s and early '60s they were all dismantled, except the tramway in Blackpool which remained as a seaside tourist attraction. I can still remember the trolleys in London. Now new tram systems have appeared in Manchester, London and elsewhere and more are on the cards. Continental Europe is very different. It seems they maintained and modernised their tram systems and you can find them all over the place.

In Africa Cairo still has a well-developed tram system - when I lived there for a few months in 1983 there were still some ancient trams operating on a regular basis. Khartoum used to have trams, many decades ago.

[Marc Russell]

Well written article. Having experienced public transport (except taxis) in all South African cities I can honestly say that it is something that is constantly improving with each visit.
Having rode the BRT in Joburg, the suburbs of Soweto finally have bus network to be proud of, after having endured years of neglect under the various apartheid governments. It's a step towards ridding the cities of mini-bus taxis.
The 'people mover' in Durban is another example of this.
The Khyalitsha line extension, and the possibility of a branch line to the Airport shows the government is taking action.
Gautrain will entice people from the northern suburbs to the ride rails for the very first time. Although I can't understand building a railway almost parallel to an existing one. However who wants to see a grubby MetroRail train in the northern suburbs!!
Anyway, perhaps for the first time South Africa is taking public transport seriously, which is more than I can say for my own city!!

[Marc Russell]

The worst about all this is that Cape Town AND most other cities in SA HAD electric trams and trolley busses during the first half of the 20th century, why oh why did it take us 50+ years to learn from our mistakes?

Sea point for example had an electric train service, an electric tram line PLUS an electric bus service with clipcards (Contactless smart ticketing comes to mind), special lunch time services and late night trains for theater go-ers. Milnerton also had a rail link (The 'monument' commemorating the location of the Milnerton station had to make way for the new, 2billion rand BRT road). Not to mention the 160km/h Metro Blitz service during the early 80's.

The only thing that we can hope for is that we don't discard these services again after 30 years, only to again rebuild it in the 22nd century...

Sadly Luca, most cities of the world rid themselves of trolley buses and trams. And how we long for their return. Wellington (NZ) which has the largest trolley bus network in Southern hemisphere and Melbourne (Aus) with it's trams, make cities like Sydney envious at their decision to retain them.

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

Marc I think its a little too late. Not only public transport but get freight off the roads on to rail. Our roads especially up North are stuffed because of over loaded badly maintained long distance trucks. Its just that the ineffeciancy of our Railways pushed transporters to trucking.