‘Ricksha buses’ to drive Durban visitors

TOURISTS who will be in Durban for the December holiday are in for a treat as they can experience the city in the comfort of newly launched “ricksha buses”.

Durban Tourism revealed that it had taken delivery of the multimillion-rand double-decker ricksha buses and would use them to ferry visitors around the city. The new buses replace the older ones. Durban Tourism also announced that it had extended the routes that the buses would travel.

The North Beach Tourism office is now the official departure point for all ricksha buses. The new routes include “South Coastal, North Coastal, North Inland, and Western routes and additional nodes on the Central routes”.

Each route takes about three to five hours.

Mandla Nsele, acting head of communication for ethekwini, said the new buses were part of an initiative aimed at getting visitors to experience all parts of the city.

This included townships and rural areas so as to “enhance the total experience” for a visitor and ensure the entire city benefited from tourism.

“New routes that new buses will cover include three more regions of the city, with more emphasis on township and rural tourism,” he said.

The ricksha can take up to 44 passengers and has graphics of Durban’s tourist attractions, such as the herb market, ushaka Marine World, Moses Mabhida Stadium, traditional Zulu dancers, shark cage diving, and the coastline.

During the launch, mayor Zandile Gumede said tourism had proved to be a major economic booster and the city was willing to go all-out to ensure Durban was a destination of choice.

“Tourists who come to our city should automatically be our ambassadors when they go back home. We will only do that by ensuring that we unceasingly meet their needs,” she said.

The mayor said hopping on to the ricksha bus was the most convenient way for people to explore the city’s tourism offerings. They included sightseeing, as well as learning about the city’s history, its people and their culture and diversity.

“It is going to be an experience that will forever be engraved in the minds of many of our tourists and we are very excited,” Gumede added.