LETTER TO COCT: USE IDLE BUSES TO PROTECT COMMUTERS FROM INFECTION
Statement by Brett Herron, GOOD Member of the Western Cape Provincial Legislature.
23 March 2020
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The Covid-19 virus epidemic demands extraordinary action to combat an extraordinary threat to our society and wellbeing of South Africans. Anyone who can stay at home should do so, but for many workers, that is not an option.
The MyCiTi bus operations to Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain, Cape Town’s largest suburbs, were stopped in June 2019. Months later, Metrorail ceased rail services to these same suburbs. At least 40 MyCiTi buses provided public transport services on that route for the 5 year period (2014-2019) that the service was in operation. All buses remain the property of the City of Cape Town.
GOOD’s Secretary General, Brett Herron, has appealed to the Mayor of Cape Town, Dan Plato, to use these and any other available buses on the City’s public transport networks. More buses on the routes will reduce crowding and reduce the risk of infection for commuters who do not have the luxury of working from home.