Cape Town drivers have been feeling the pain of traffic congestion across the city, and have been left frustrated.
Image: Armand Hough/Independent Newspapers
Drivers have been feeling the pain of traffic congestion across Cape Town, and have been left frustrated with very few avenues to direct that frustration.
Through casual conversation, anecdotal evidence, and global research, it is clear the impact Cape Town traffic has on the lives of people and time they lose as a result.
Back in January, the 2024 INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard revealed Cape Town to be the ninth most congested city in the world, and that traffic was 13% worse than the previous year.
The year before that, Cape Town was in the same position on the same index.
The INRIX survey revealed that Capetonians, on average, experience a delay of 94 hours per year, versus the time they would have spent if they were driving during quieter, off-peak periods.
This "delay" was 83 hours in 2023.
Commute times are calculated by looking exclusively at the time it takes to get to and from major employment centers within an urban area from surrounding commuting neighbourhoods, and its newest methodology includes accurate estimates of commuting distances using actual, observed trips.
Cape Town drivers have been feeling the pain of traffic congestion across the city, and have been left frustrated.
Image: Armand Hough/Independent Newspapers
A number of Cape Town drivers have weighed in, with some touching on the time lost, overall frustrations and possible reasons.
Cameron G. said: “I live in Simon's Town and work in the CBD. I drive in every day. It takes over an hour to get home in the evening. Leaving after 6pm does not help since there's still traffic. The City needs to implement a bypass that allows vehicles from Philip Kgosana to bypass the whole hospital bend intersection and rejoin the M3 near UCT."
Kayla W: “We get to work one day a week from home. We also have offices in Stellenbosch which is easier for me to get to in terms of travelling time, so I can work from there once a week. And then our main office is in the CBD. I leave home at 6am and it takes me anywhere from one hour to one hour 20 minutes to get to work from Brackenfell."
Cape Town drivers have been feeling the pain of traffic congestion across the city, and have been left frustrated.
Image: Armand Hough/Independent Newspapers
Mayco member for Urban Mobility, Rob Quintas, said one of challenges with Cape Town is that soon, its population will surpass Johannesburg’s, and this influx is already adding to more traffic on the roads
He said Cape Town’s average vehicle occupancy remains low, at just 1.57 people per vehicle in the morning peak and 1.52 in the afternoon peak (including the driver).
“These woefully inadequate occupancy levels place unsustainable pressure on the road network and underscore the need for more efficient, high-occupancy, and sustainable transport solutions.”
The Mobility and Access Plan is included as part of the draft local spatial development framework (LSDF) for the Cape Town CBD that is available for public comment until 11 May 2025.
Image: Supplied
He touted other efforts, such as the Urban Mobility Directorate allocating R294 million for road projects to relieve traffic congestion at pressure points in Kuils River (Amandel Road and Saxdowns Road upgrades), Durbanville, Belhar (Erica Drive), Salt River (Voortrekker Road), Maitland (Berkley Road), along the M3 highway and Kommetjie Main Road over the next three years as part of its proposed budget for the medium-term.
He added that the Urban Mobility Directorate’s proposed capital budget over the medium-term, starting on July 1, 2025 until June 30, 2028, amounts to over R7.9 billion.
The Urban Mobility Directorate’s proposed capital budget over the medium-term, starting on 1 July 2025 until 30 June 2028, amounts to over R7,9 billion, with some key priorities being:
Image: Screenshot
“The challenge is getting people onto public transport. This is our first strategy in combatting congestion. We need people on buses where the MyCiTi bus service operates with passenger rail as the backbone of public transport, as is the case elsewhere in the world."
Cape Argus