Cape Town, South Africa

ITDP began working in the City of Cape Town in 2002, initially focused on building support for the concept of BRT. Through workshops and the exchange of international best practices – particularly bringing in experts involved in the implementation of Bogota’s gold-standard TransMilenio – momentum for BRT grew. In 2007, ITDP joined the team creating the business plan and financial model for the MyCiTi BRT, and helped guide the project to success. As part of the process, ITDP assisted with the formalization of Cape Town’s existing informal public transport industry, helping to empower black and coloured small informal business owners to enter the formal market and transform into competitive companies. Like in Johannesburg, the BRT system is now operated by companies comprised of former minibus taxi operators.

In 2010, MyCiTi opened two pilot routes in time to operate during the 2010 World Cup. The following year, the City of Cape Town began full services on MyCiTi’s 16km corridor, rated bronze-standard. The system has continued expanding, now providing service into the city center and to the airport and future phases are currently in the planning stage.

In addition to the BRT, ITDP work has included bringing the Access Africa program to Cape Town. By providing bicycles to low-income health care workers who previously only accessed their patients’ by foot, the program has allowed the health care workers to visit more patients and work shorter hours every day.