5 ways Cape Town plans to solve its growing traffic mess
The City of Cape Town is South Africa’s most congested city, where people are accustomed to and frustrated by long hours sitting in traffic while commuting to and from work.
The city has acknowledged that it has a traffic problem, and has committed R750 million to be spent on its Congestion Management Programme (CMP), which aims to reduce traffic in and around the city.
The document has been published for public comment until the 28th of October.
According to the document, peak traffic times in Cape Town’s major arterial routes have increased from 07:00 to 0:900 (two hours) to 06:00 to 10:00 (four hours) over the past two years.
The key areas which were identified as “priority” routes are:
- Marine Drive (R27)
- N1 from Marine Drive to N7, and between Durban Road and
Okavango Road - N2 from Modderdam Road to Cape Town CBD, and
between Borchard Quarry Road and R300 - M5 from Racecourse Road to Koeberg Interchange
- M3 from Wynberg Hill
- N2 through to Somerset West
- Kommetjie
- Kuilsriver
- Parklands
- Waterfront and surrounds
“Traffic congestion is a problem that is not going to be completely removed. In fact congestion can be seen as a product of successful cities since all the activities that make living in urban areas so attractive are also the reasons why we need to travel,” the city said.
However, it noted that it is important to look at how cities are planned and to manage their growth to best avoid traffic issues escalating.
“We cannot simply build our way out of traffic congestion by widening roads, since this will only attract more vehicles and is not sustainable,” it said. However, the CMP makes a number of proposals to try and reduce the time spent on the roads of Cape Town.
Chief among the suggestions is a proposal that business shake up the tried-and-true notion of a typical work week – looking for ways to push workers to use the roads at different times, or to make fewer trips to the office.
These are the main suggestions outlined:
1. Extending dedicated lanes
One of the first strategies involves extending dedicated lanes for buses and minibuses, as well as other high occupancy vehicles.
The city also wants to look at international practices of car sharing and lift club incentive schemes.
Img: Alaister Russell, Future Cape Town
2. Park and Ride plans
Expand park and ride infrastructure along with parking management to get more cars off of the roads in peak traffic spots.
The city said that it has put out a tender for a parking pricing and parking management system, which will be concluded and managed.
3. Flexible working hours
The city suggests that flexible working ours will successfully alleviate pressure during peak hours.
It plans to roll out such a strategy with its 27,000 staff members, and will engage with other businesses in Cape Town to try a similar approach.
This includes a “core working hour” strategy – where employees should be present for core hours (10:00 – 14:00) but can work the other 4 hours at various times; working on variable days; or staggering working hours.
Other possible strategies include a compressed work week (working full-time hours in fewer than 5 days) and working remotely.
4. Congestion charge / fuel levy
The City of Cape Town has successfully blocked Sanral from building a toll network similar to e-tolls in Gauteng in the city.
However, funding is still needed to maintain, extend and develop the city’s roads. The CMP proposes a special congestion tax or an increase in the fuel levy to meet finance targets.
Other places money may be involved is in having time reduction measures worked into fares for public transport.
5. Encourage bicycle use through bike sharing
The city plans to introduce its first “bike share” project, which would see bicycles made available for citizens to use over short periods.
The system is popular in many European cities, and the Western Cape government is keen to implement it in Cape Town. The system will be put out to tender.
More on traffic
Cape Town traffic is worse than Joburg: index
Cape Town’s R750 million plan to fight traffic congestion
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