In an effort to encourage the use of public transport, the City of Cape Town’s transport department will on Monday open the Helderberg park-and-ride facility in Somerset West for commuters to the city centre.
The facility, situated in Pastorie Lane near the police station, will be opened by Elizabeth Thompson, mayoral committee member for transport, roads and stormwater.

Simultaneously, Golden Arrow Bus Services will launch its new express service between the Helderberg facility and Cape Town.

The first Golden Arrow bus will leave at 6am and the next at 7am.

The city said the park-and-ride programme was aimed at allowing commuters to leave their vehicles and bicycles in a safe parking area outside the city, then transfer to public transport for the trip to town.

Commuters are being encouraged to use the new express bus service that will be introduced by Golden Arrow on the route to Cape Town.

Thompson said earlier this month that the the new service, with the dedicated BMT lane, would significantly reduce traffic volumes on the N2 highway and hoped people from the Helderberg region would take advantage of it.

The non-motorised transport programme also includes the introduction of 200km of bicycle lanes over the next five years, as well as new pavements and footways.

Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance provincial leader Theuns Botha and the party’s spokesperson, Robin Carlisle, have met Golden Arrow chief executive Nic Cronje and general manager Francois Meyer at the company’s request after the party criticised its zonal and flat-fare systems.

The DA said while the party had consulted Golden Arrow personnel before issuing the statement, the consultations had not been at executive level, and misunderstandings arose, “which the DA regrets”.

Carlisle said Golden Arrow indicated that multi-ride cards would only be sanctioned by the department of transport.

Source: Cape Times