{"id":252306,"date":"2023-03-10T06:13:57","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T04:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/can-township-become-model-for-bike-transport\/"},"modified":"2023-03-10T06:13:57","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T04:13:57","slug":"can-this-township-become-a-model-for-bike-transport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/can-this-township-become-a-model-for-bike-transport\/","title":{"rendered":"Can this township become a model for bike transport?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A walkabout or \u201ctalking streets\u201d event was held in Langa to discuss the future of transport in the Cape Town township. Photos: Ashraf Hendricks<\/p>\n

A pedestrian crossing where vehicles almost never stop. Bicycle lanes obstructed by parked cars. An informal market that is starting to use bicycles to deliver their product.<\/p>\n

These are some of the issues raised during a walkabout or \u201ctalking streets\u201d event in Langa about the future of transport in the township.<\/p>\n

Organised by the Langa Bicycle Hub and Human Sciences Research Council, the walk took City of Cape Town officials, local organisations and groups interested in mobility and public spaces around the city\u2019s oldest township, which is celebrating its 100th year in 2023.<\/p>\n

Mzikhona Mgedle, Founder and Managing Director of the Langa Bicycle Hub, said that they are doing this to connect government, the community and organisations to find better ways to improve mobility. Mgedle said that they want to \u201credesign and rethink\u201d Langa to have more cycling-friendly streets.<\/p>\n

During the walk the group of about 20 people stopped at a pedestrian crossing where almost no vehicles stopped for road users. A man in a wheelchair patiently waited while cars zipped down the street until he had a gap to cross.<\/p>\n

Another stop was at an informal market where Mgedle explained that bicycles are being used to transport meat and other goods for informal traders. The Shoprite and Boxer stores have also started to use bicycles to transport goods to people\u2019s homes, creating jobs.<\/p>\n

Mgedle says that because these \u201cinnovative ideas\u201d are happening, both the government and private sector need to support these businesses. He says that many unemployed people are buying second hand bicycles and starting to do these deliveries.
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Nokwa Kha uses a bicycle service to deliver her meat from the taxi rank to her shop.<\/p>\n

Nokwa Kha has been selling braai chops and sausage from the same market since the 1990s. She uses a taxi to take her meat to the taxi rank. From there she uses a bicycle service to take her meat to her shop. Kha said that the problems informal traders face include a lack of electricity, no bins and a lack of place for branding. Despite this, she wouldn\u2019t want to move. Working here she is able to feed her family and put her children through school.<\/p>\n

Two organisations that are using bicycles in Langa are Mgedles\u2019s own Langa Bicycle Hub<\/a>, which started by delivering medicine and food during the Covid pandemic in 2020. Today they also teach people to cycle, and hold workshops and tours.<\/p>\n

The other organisation is Cloudy Deliveries<\/a>, which does deliveries for restaurants, supermarkets and stores.<\/p>\n

Mgedle said that bicycle culture is growing in the township. He said more people are cycling for work. Langa is central and it is easy to cycle, but there are safety concerns, he explained.<\/p>\n

When travelling from Langa on bicycle, Mgedle sometimes use the highway during peak traffic as it is safer. He does this because he has been pelted with stones near the flats in Athlone. He said that people will try to steal your bike. \u201cThey can\u2019t catch you so they will throw stones at you,\u201d he says. But commuting on the highway on a bicycle is illegal and he has been fined R2,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must use our feet more and we must use our bicycles more,\u201d said the Western Cape Minister of Mobility, Ricardo McKenzie. McKenzie said that congestion in Cape Town is a problem, especially with loadshedding, and that roads need to be designed better.<\/p>\n

He said that we need to give people a reason to use bicycles by holding bike-friendly events, creating bike-friendly public spaces and building infrastructure for bikes.<\/p>\n

Mgedle said that many people see bikes as toys but for some who can\u2019t even afford a taxi, this is their only means of transport.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u00a9 2023 GroundUp. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Source: GroundUp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A walkabout or \u201ctalking streets\u201d event was held in Langa to discuss the future of transport in the Cape Town township. Photos: Ashraf Hendricks A pedestrian crossing where vehicles almost never stop. Bicycle lanes obstructed by parked cars. An informal market that is starting to use bicycles to deliver their product. These are some of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":252307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9928,3247],"tags":[28001],"class_list":{"0":"post-252306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-groundup","8":"category-news","9":"tag-groundup","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/can-this-township-become-a-model-for-bike-transport.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}