Cape Town’s MyCiti bus service transported its highest-ever number of passengers in May this year, says Cape Town Transport MMC Brett Heron.

He says MiCiti saw 700 000 passenger journeys in May. The total number of passenger journeys since the service rolled out in 2010 now numbers more than 40-million.

Heron says Cape Town is “essentially” at the end of the roll-out of Phase 1 of the bus system, with only “some infrastructure” still to be put in place.

Phase 1 consists of 42 closed stations, four trunk routes, 350 pairs of curbside stops and 44 routes.

The investment in MyCiti, to date, totals more than R6-billion.

Heron says MyCiti is implemented as one answer to the high cost of transport in South African cities. A Cape Town study found that low-income households spent between 40% and 60% of their income on transport.

He notes that a vocal minority has been opposed to Phase 1 of the MyCiti system, as continues to be the case as the city gears up for the roll-out of Phase 2.

Those opposed to the system include minibus operators, fearing job losses, and also the more affluent, who do not want bus stops near their homes, he adds.

Phase 2 of MyCiti will connect areas such as Mitchells Plain and Kayelitsha with Wynberg and Claremont.

It may impact on around one-million people, says Heron.

However, a number of Wynberg residents have challenged the fact that they have to be evicted from their South Road council homes to make way for Phase 2 of the MyCiti system, with the High Court ruling in their favour.

“We are appealing the interdict,” says Heron.

Planning for Phase 2 is continuing, however, even though access to Wynberg’s central business district has now been restricted.

Heron notes that the “obsession” with bus-rapid transit (BRT) systems in South Africa as the “saviour” of public transport is “waning”.

This provides local councils with “the space to articulate” that public transport is not all about BRT.

“Our public transport vision is to have a network. BRT is one component.”

BRT was introduced into South Africa largely in response to the Soccer World Cup, held in 2010.