Transport and Public Works

Rising traffic congestion is a condition that is broadly confined to our metropolitan cities and larger towns within the Province and would require an integrated transport solution involving many role players in order to curb it. The marked increase in traffic congestion within the City of Cape Town is partly the result of the failure of our rail system to act as the backbone of the public transport system. Although the demand for greater mobility and population numbers have increased, the shift of commuters from rail to road cannot be denied. The Department and the Western Cape Government are working with the City of Cape Town in order to overcome these challenges, including determining the role PRASA and Metrorail should play within the delivery of an integrated transport system for the City of Cape Town. The process to deal with those embedded challenges in rail is contentious but the Department and the City of Cape Town are committed to resolve them for the benefit of commuters. The Department is also aware of increasing issues of traffic congestion in places such as Stellenbosch and the Department is working with the Municipality of Stellenbosch to address this issue by improving mobility through the Provincial Sustainable Transport Programme (PSTP). The PSTP seeks to utilise Travel Demand Management concepts in Stellenbosch and promote a shift away from single occupancy vehicles. It also focusses on the incremental improvement of public transport services in terms of service delivery as well as safety and security of users to encourage a shift from the private vehicle to public transport. The Western Cape Government is also engaged in improving the flow of traffic via key arterial roads such as the N1 and the N2 in order to provide additional relief.