Off the rails, too: a MyCiTi gripe by numbers
1. For starters, most MyCiTi station doors do not work; MyCiTi is becoming just like Metrorail.
The city has criticised Metrorail, but it is becoming just as bad and just as dangerous.
2. Most “totem pole” signs are no longer functioning or lit up at night.
3. Many feeder bus stops are no longer lit.
4. The audio announcement signs do not work. They did about five years ago, as did the visual signs.
5. Europe is banning diesel vehicles in particular, yet we use diesel as the main mode of operating MyCiTi.
6. Public roads continue to be compromised by MyCiTi lanes through bad traffic light timing. Bus lanes give a green light to buses when there are none in sight and reduced lanes.
7. There are many economical ways of constructing slip turning lanes for private vehicles in order to alleviate congestion at intersections.
Public and private infrastructure should complement, rather than compromise each other.
8. The robot signals should be improved, with “red light arrows” to replace or work together with black and white overhead signage.
9. In addition, pedestrian robots should have count-up-and-down timers, like those being implemented all over the world, and even in Africa, to alleviate impatient and dangerous jaywalking.
All these failings are unacceptable. Ratepayers paid a lot for MyCiTi and continue to do so as rates continue to rise beyond our means.
10. Finally, comparisons need to be made with the tram system in Addis Ababa and the super-fast bullet trains in Morocco, just to put our shortcomings into perspective. Agi Orfanos Blouberg