South Africa has observed Transport Month in October since 2005. Annually, it’s a celebration of public transport, an opportunity for government to showcase its investments in the sector, and a time for road safety campaigns.
For us, it’s all that and more, as we highlight the importance of non-motorised transport in the economy and for the future.
This year, we will be kicking of Transport Month in Cape Town by staging our longest-ever Open Streets Day. A 5km stretch of Main Road between Observatory and the Cape Town CBD will go car, truck, bus and taxi free, creating a space for people to walk, cycle or skate.
Open Streets is a disrupter of the business-as-usual transport policies and trends that place the car at the forefront of our consciousness when we contemplate mobility. It gives us an opportunity to reimagine this status quo.
This is especially pertinent in a month dedicated to movement. Remember when the City opened the Sea Point Promenade to non-motorised transport during Transport Month in 2012? It’s hard to imagine the space any other way now.
We’d like to think Main Road, and many other Cape Town streets, could be a little friendlier to people who choose to use non-motorised transport to get around the city.
Please join us on Sunday, 1 October, as we give a glimpse of what this future might look like. You could be a part of history in the making!
The City’s mayoral committee member for Transport & Urban Development, Cllr Brett Herron, will formally open Main Road by leading a 4km bike ride from the Cape Town Science Centre in Observatory at 11am. Joining him will be Minister Alan Winde, a strong support of Open Streets, and Tasneem Essop, former provincial minister who initiated the first-ever car-free day in South Africa, on the Klipfontein corridor in 2003.
