The City of Cape Town’s official launch of ‘Transport for Cape Town’ on Thursday, 18 October 2012 promises to be a highly entertaining event for the public, as it features a parade of different forms of transport.
The parade will include skateboards, bicycles, unicycles, scooters and Harley Davidson motorbikes. Entertainers will also depict the use of different modes of transport. It will move from Keizersgracht past the City Hall at 12:45, head up Darling Street to Adderley Street and end at the Cape Town Station Forecourt.
The celebrations will include a range of entertainment at the Cape Town Station Forecourt, including unicyclists and stilt walkers; performances by a Minstrel troupe and The Band; and tricks by cyclists and skateboarders. The entertainers and performers will also join together for a dance and freestyle medley.
No public parking will be allowed on the Grand Parade on the day. The vendors on the Grand Parade will continue to trade as usual.
‘Transport for Cape Town’ is a local government entity that will transform Cape Town’s current fragmented transport system into an integrated, multi-modal system that puts commuters first – this will result in more efficient, affordable and safer public transport.
The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Transport, Roads and Stormwater, Councillor Brett Herron, says that although the changes will be incremental at first, the end result will be a world-class public transport system that can reduce some of the negative long-term effects of Apartheid-era spatial planning and better respond to commuters’ needs.
“The launch is the culmination of months of intensive work by a City administration that is proud to be the country’s first to implement this process in accordance with the transport roles and responsibilities assigned to metropolitan municipalities in the National Land Transport Act of 2009,” says Councillor Herron.
Road closures around the City Hall and Cape Town Station
The temporary road closures to accommodate the parade have been limited and are being carried out in such a way as to cause minimum disruption to traffic. The details are as follows:
- 05:00 – No parking will be allowed on Darling Street in front of the City Hall on both kerb sides.
- 09:30 – Closure of Keizersgracht between Darling Street and Tennant Street.
- 11:30 – Rolling intersection closures from Keizersgracht into Darling Street; from Corporation Street to Buitenkant Street including the intersections of Darling Street and Parade Street; and Buitenkant Street and Darling Street.
