The City of Cape Town has assessed the impact of slow moving MyCiTi buses on the N2 inbound at Hospital Bend, and investigated several route deviations in recent weeks. As such, commuters are advised that the MyCiTi buses travelling towards the Civic Centre station will follow a new route as from Monday 27 January to avoid Hospital Bend.
Importantly, the outbound MyCiTi buses travelling from the Civic Centre station towards Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain will still follow the normal N2 Express route to their destinations.
“The N2 Express service is one of our most popular MyCiTi routes, and the buses travelling to and from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha to the Civic Centre station are usually full. Given the steep gradient at Hospital Bend and being at full capacity, the inbound buses are travelling at very low speeds towards the city centre.
“This adds to the congestion in the peak morning periods, and as such, we decided to explore alternative routes where the buses do not need to travel up Hospital Bend,” says Mayco member for urban mobility, Rob Quintas.
“The new route alignment for the inbound buses may add additional travelling time for commuters using the N2 Express service, however, this is a safer and more cost-effective alternative going forward and will aid us in our mission to keep Cape Town moving.”
New inbound route alignment
Inbound buses will exit the N2 freeway towards the M5 Black River Parkway; travel along the M5 and take the off-ramp onto the N1/FW de Klerk Boulevard.
Buses will travel along FW de Klerk Boulevard, take the off-ramp onto Christiaan Barnard Street and turn right onto Hertzog Boulevard at the Civic Centre station.
The new route will be followed every day, including Sundays and public holidays. The service schedules will be adjusted accordingly, once the new inbound route alignment has been operational for a few days and teething problems addressed.
The outbound buses travelling from the Civic Centre station towards Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha will still continue on the normal route via the N2 freeway to their destinations.
“As is the case with all route changes, we anticipate it will take a while for the new route alignment to settle in, and for commuters to adjust. That said, the vehicle operating company operating the N2 Express service has engaged commuters and drivers to alert them to the upcoming change. We have deviated buses along this route in the past when we had incidents along the N2 inbound, and I trust it will not take too long for all to get used to the new route,” says Quintas.
Call 0860 65 64 63 for more information.
