The City of Cape Town has achieved a first in South Africa by launching the pilot phase of Wi-Fi provision on its MyCiTi buses. 

As of part of a pilot phase, Wi-Fi has been installed on 10 MyCiTi buses, which will first be tested on the various feeder routes across the city.

Once the service has been tested on the feeder routes, the full roll-out will be expanded to all 380 buses such as the trunk routes in Atlantis, Table View, Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha.

Basic use of the service will be free. Each passenger will receive 50 MB per day at no charge. After this users can buy Wi-Fi vouchers.

“The provision of Wi-Fi is a key part of our integration strategies where we are connecting more people to services and opportunities,” says executive mayor Patricia de Lille.

“As part of the pilot phase, commuters will also be able to log into the Wi-Fi at the Cape Town Metrorail station – a prime example of our vision to build an integrated transport system where we connect residents to various transport modes, networks and services.”
 

Congestion Relief Programme

The provision of Wi-Fi on the MyCiTi buses is an integral part of the City’s Congestion Relief Programme as this provides an incentive to use public transport instead private vehicles so that we can reduce the number of cars on our roads.

The availability of Wi-Fi internet access on MyCiTi buses is expected to improve the attractiveness of the public transport system to commuters by enabling them to be productive while traveling.

“We firmly believe that there is a positive correlation between the availability of internet access and the social and economic upliftment of communities,” says De Lille.

“This is an exciting development to serve the needs of our growing city and ensure that our residents and commuters are connected and are able to access opportunities.”