The MyCiTi users have embraced the MyCiTi travelling app since its launch. It has only been a year since MyCiTi introduced the official travelling app and already it has been downloaded more than 32 000 times. The app has been used more than one million times and an average of 8 000 passengers use the app on a daily basis, enjoying this quick and convenient way to access service information. User data reveals that the app’s journey planner function has been used over 500 000 times and that more than 1 500 messages were sent to the Transport Information Centre via the app for quick responses.

‘The feedback from users is that they rely on the app as a tool for real time and reliable information. They have found the live updates very helpful and the app’s functionality to be of a high standard. We thank our passengers for embracing this new technology. As the MyCiTi network expands, technological advances such as this is a necessity in order for us to provide the best possible service to our MyCiTi users,’ said Alderman Purchase, the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Transport.

MyCiTi app users make use of the personal planning tools to map out their journey; search for timetables and buses; calculate their trip fare; and, those with Android phones, are able to check their card balance. An aspect that has proved to be very helpful, especially to those who have time-sensitive schedules, are the live updates and notifications relating to timetables; routes or news alerts while they are travelling. When passengers view the bus timetables on the app, the location of buses are tracked and the scheduled times are updated with more reliable estimates of when each bus is due to arrive.

Both the app and MyCiTi website have become a reliable source of information that commuters depend on.

This City is also celebrating the 10th anniversary of the MyCiTi bus service. Since 29 May 2010, MyCiTi has been offering a new standard of quality, reliable and affordable public transport to residents in Cape Town. The service now offers 42 stations and a network of 46 routes with distinctive blue and red bus stops.

Over the last 10 years, more than 20 million passenger journeys have been undertaken, as the service has expanded to cover the entire Atlantic seaboard, from Atlantis in the north to Hout Bay in the south, including the central city and surrounding suburbs. Planning is currently underway to expand the MyCiTi service that will link communities in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain with Wynberg and Claremont.

Regular passenger surveys reveal consistently high approval ratings for the service, which meets national standards for universal access, including those with disabilities. The MyCiTi system has also played a catalytic role in urban improvement and the development of a non-motorised transport network with upgraded pedestrian walkways and cycle paths, as well as accommodating bicycles on its buses.

MyCiTi celebrates 10 years of service amid a challenging time for the public transport sector as South Africa deals with the COVID-19 pandemic. Measures have been put in place to ensure that staff and passengers can travel in the safest possible manner. This includes the implementation of social distancing, sanitisation and ongoing public awareness campaigns to help stop the spread of the virus.