'Objective of the BMT lane is being achieved'

By Anele Siwa
20 August 2007

From the 7th of August the Transport Department in the Western Cape and the Department of Public Works together with the City of Cape Town dedicated the bus and mini bus taxi lane on the N2 to be used only by public transport modes, specifically busses and mini-bus taxi's.

“Compliance with regulations governing the operations of the N2 BMT lane has been good enough for public transport vehicles that they have achieved a considerable travel time,” says the Western Cape Transport MEC Marius Fransman.

Fransman says busses travelling in this lane now travel 15 minutes less per trip and the bus company operating the city-bound trips is now able to do 31 extra trips Taxis from Gugulethu to Cape Town are now travelling 30 to 40 minutes less, Fransman's department says.

“We have about twenty traffic officers who are patrolling between 05:30 and 09:00 in the mornings and good compliance has been observed,” adds Fransman.

“Despite our major achievement there are still some challenges that need to be addressed. We still have a sizeable number of motorists who are breaking the law by driving on the BMT lane,” says Fransman.