Incentivise cycling

I’M REFERRING to (“New cycle route to draw riders to province”, Cape Argus, May 16) about the new cycle route that was created by Economic Opportunities MEC Alan Winde.

I applaud his contributions towards making Cape Town a cycle destination for all and for improving on the cycling infrastructure of the city from a cyclist’s perspective. However, there is still a major shortcoming with this plan.

It’s all fine and well if you live in the CBD or on the Peninsula route itself, but if you’re coming from the northern suburbs or West Coast, the N1 highway represents a major obstacle when you’re nearing town. Although a cycle lane exists on the MyCiTi bus route to allow cyclists to gain access to the CBD area, it’s too dangerous to use because of the high number of muggings that have occurred on that path. The path is too far from the “beaten track” so all the criminal activities that occur there are hidden from plain sight and this emboldens the muggers. The Pedal Power Association has appealed to its members to stop using the path as it is too dangerous to cyclists at the moment. They’ve tried policing the stretch but it’s incredibly labour-intensive and expensive over a 24-hour period and, as a result, cyclists rather risk cycling on the shoulder of the N1 while cars fly past them at 120km an hour! Transnet won’t allow the cyclists use of the port road either.

However, the solution lies in between the N1 and the Transnet wall where there is a piece of land about 5m in length.

This piece of ground needs to be tarred and turned into a cycling lane exactly the same way as the city has done in between Melkbos and Blaauberg. If this were to happen, people could leave their cars at home and cycle into town on a daily basis. The benefits to the city would be massive. It would help take pressure off the already-flailing transport issue we have, alleviate the rush hour gridlock problem, lower the city’s carbon footprint, improve the health of thousands daily, as well as make the northern suburbs part of the greater cycling path that Alan has now completed.

Please, incentivise people with a safe cycling lane and prevent unnecessary deaths for cyclists wanting to gain access to the CBD from the northern suburbs

NEIL BENJAMIN Edgemead