Engineering News and Mining Weekly
Second Attempt
Cape Town takes another stab at rolling out electric buses for its MyCiTi service
The City of Cape Town should have battery electric buses (e-buses) operational on its MyCiTi bus service by , says Urban Mobility MMC Rob Quintas. It will be the city’s second stab at rolling out the zero-emission technology, following an unsuccessful attempt as an early adopter in .
E-buses have since experienced signicant progress in terms of range and technology.
Quintas tells Engineering News & Mining Weekly that the Cape Town council has given the Urban Mobility Directorate the go-ahead to proceed with adopting alternative-energy buses as part of MyCiTi Phase A.
Phase A will expand the bus service to run between Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha, Wynberg and Claremont.
“At this point in time, it is foreseen that the rst routes will be operational by mid- , if all goes as planned,” says Quintas.
However, the service will not only use e-buses.
Cape Town’s Climate Change Action Plan commits the city to transitioning to electric or alternative-fuel-powered freight, bus, taxi and passenger vehicles by , explains Quintas.
In terms of this plan, the city’s Urban Mobility Directorate is mandated to develop a procurement strategy for low-carbonemission vehicles and fuel technologies in pursuit of carbon neutrality.
This initiative also aligns with the national Department of Transport’s Green Transport Strategy ( – ) which states that % of municipal bus eets must use clean energy within the next to years.
“As such, the directorate has initiated a procurement strategy aimed at zeroemission vehicle solutions for the city’s bus eet,” notes Quintas.
“The rst step was to identify the most suitable alternative or green-vehicle and fueltechnology options for the MyCiTi bus service, supported by the necessary infrastructure.
“The directorate conducted a feasibility study of alternative-energy vehicles, including compressed natural gas, hydrogen electric, battery electric, hybrid and Euro VI [cleaner internal combustion engine] buses.
“Key recommendations from this study advocate for the adoption of a dual strategy, involving the acquisition of both Euro VI diesel buses and battery electric buses for the upcoming procurement cycle for the roll-out of the second phase of the MyCiTi bus service,” says Quintas.
Quintas emphasises that the city will continue to investigate alternative fuel options, given the continuous technology changes within the zero- and low-emissions transport industry.