N2 Express joint venture gets extension

THE City has extended its contract with the N2 Express joint venture vehicle operating company setting into motion plans to allow taxi drivers to keep on operating crucial MyCiTi bus routes between the city and the Cape Flats.

The company was formed by the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations (Codeta) in Khayelitsha, the Route 6 Taxi Association in Mitchells Plain, and the Golden Arrow Bus Service prior to the rollout of the four MyCiTi routes to the areas in July 2014.

Brett Herron, mayoral committee member for transport and urban development, said the contract extension took effect yesterday.

“We have amended the operating contract… These changes signify an important milestone where the taxi associations who are part of the joint venture will begin to take over the operations of the N2 Express service from Golden Arrow in an incremental manner,” he said.

“This means that Codeta and the Route 6 Taxi Association will take over the operations of the four N2 Express routes as well as the management of the MyCiTi fleet serving commuters from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha. To date Golden Arrow has fulfilled this function and responsibilities, but the time has come for these two partners who form part of the company to take over this role. They will be doing so in the coming months as the responsibilities are handed over incrementally.”

He said that while the process was being implemented, the City would start negotiating for the signing of long-term operating contracts for the N2 Express service.

“When we rolled out the N2 Express service in 2014 we started with the mammoth task of bringing decent and affordable public transport to residents who are living on the periphery of the city.

“The extension of the MyCiTi service to that region, however, also brought new opportunities to the taxi associations in Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha who were affected by the MyCiTi route rollout at the time,” said Herron.

He said they had reached a point where the taxi associations could take over their own operations.

Mayor Patricia de Lille said: “Our aim is to ensure that we bring taxi associations up to the same level as other major scheduled transport operators”. – Staff Reporter

‘THESE CHANGES SIGNIFY AN IMPORTANT MILESTONE’