The Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry has hailed the N2 Bus and Minibus Taxi lane BMT as a success saying it had received no complaints about the public transport lane since its inception five months ago.
The chamber’s chief executive officer Albert Schuitmaker said the lane had promoted the use of public transport. “The feedback we’ve received from public transport operators and an independent study is that it has promoted the speed of public transport and more people are now switching to using buses and Taxis” Schuitmaker said.

Public transport has become more attractive and there’s a greater availability now than there was before. We’ve engaged with operators including Golden Arrow and the taxi industry and they have told us they’’ve cut their travelling time by about 30 minutes.

“That’s a lot of time saving………. if that’s maintained it could attract more single occupant vehicle users into public transport. Smooth public transport would definitely have an impact on productivity as employees would spend less time travelling. This in turn would lead to punctuality and also improve the mood in the workplace. Employees get very frustrated by traffic and that affects productivity.

But Schuitmaker warned that the biggest challenge the BMT lane faced was still keeping enforcement at the highest possible level. “Its success or failure depends on enforcement” he said.

The lane was opened by Transport and Public Works MEC Marius Fransman in August for the sole use of taxis and buses during the weekday morning peak hour.

At least 12 camera locations with CCTV cameras and automatic number plate recognition technology have been placed along the N2 in bound between Borcherds Quarry Road and the M5 at a cost of about R15 million.

The digital cameras monitor use of the lane from 5 30 am to 9am on weekdays. A further five cameras are to be operational by the middle of this year.

Dougie Oakes, spokesman for Fransman, said about 1000 fines had been issued to private car users using the lane during the first three months since its inception.

Source: Cape Argus – Sipokazi Maposa