City making good progress with MyCiTi Control Centre

The City of Cape Town is pleased to announce that there has been good progress with the completion of the outstanding works for the MyCiTi Control Centre.

TMT Services and Supplies was awarded the contract for the completion of the outstanding works to supply, install, test, commission and maintain the MyCiTi Control Centre hardware, software and related systems in April last year. This system is collectively known as the Advanced Public Transport Management System, or APTMS.

During the first three months of the contract, TMT Services and Supplies had to establish the status quo of the entire system. Since then, they have commenced with the process of gradually reinstating the hardware, software and related systems needed to make the control centre fully operational.

‘The magnitude of the job at hand becomes clear when one considers that the reinstatement must take place at 42 MyCiTi stations and in 378 buses. I am therefore happy to announce that 39 MyCiTi stations across the city have now been site-accepted and tested – meaning the intercom systems on the platforms and in the kiosks at all 39 stations are fully functional,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member: Transport for Cape Town, Councillor Brett Herron.

The other three stations will be site-accepted and tested once the fibre connectivity has been installed by the City’s Corporate Services Directorate.

‘Two buttons, one for information and one for security assistance, are available at each platform. Currently the Transport Information Centre (TIC) can only provide commuters with general information about the route schedules when a commuter presses the information button. However, once the APTMS is fully functional, the TIC will be able to provide real-time information about the MyCiTi service during its hours of service,’ said Councillor Herron.

Once the APTMS is fully installed, the control centre will be tracking each and every MyCiTi bus on all of the MyCiTi routes across the city.

‘Transport for Cape Town (TCT), the City’s transport authority, will therefore know the exact location of every bus at any given point in time. Not only will TCT be able to keep track of any delays to the service, the control centre will also be able to inform commuters about the departure time of every bus on every route,’ said Councillor Herron.

This real-time information will be communicated to commuters on electronic signboards or passenger information displays (PIDs) at the MyCiTi stations.

‘We have also made some great progress in getting the PIDs up and running at the 39 stations. Commuters would have noticed that the PIDs at these stations are now displaying Greenwich Mean Time, and the date and day as well,’ said Councillor Herron.

Furthermore, as TCT is progressing with the installation of the APTMS over the next 12 weeks or so, commuters may hear random announcements on some of the buses and at the stations while we are testing the system.

‘We are looking forward to the day when the APTMS will be fully operational. Not only will this enable TCT to significantly improve the MyCiTi service, it will also allow us to constantly communicate crucial information to our passengers – enabling them to better plan their journeys,’ said Councillor Herron.