Work on the first phase of the Integrated Rapid Transport (IRT) system is underway. One route will connect the airport to the city centre, the stadium and Sea Point, and the other will go up the West Coast to Table View and Atlantis.

The City is rolling out the IRT System, a public transport system that will offer safe, reliable, fast and scheduled transport services around the city.

The IRT system will have trunk and feeder routes. The trunk services will make use of large articulated vehicles, that can carry up to 120 people, operating mostly in their own dedicated – red pigmented - lanes.

The feeder services will operate using vehicles that carry up to 50 people, operating in the same lanes as regular traffic. The IRT vehicles will only stop at the stations, and will not pick up passengers along the road at any point other than at a station.

Pre-paid travel

Passengers using the IRT system will pay using a pre-paid IRT travel cards. Commuters will be able to buy ‘travel time’ at stations, shops and other outlets, which can be loaded onto the card, similar to prepaid ‘talk time’.

To enter an IRT station, passengers will swipe the card at the gate of the station, the system will establish whether there is enough credit on the card and if so, the gate will open accordingly.

Only travel cards can be used as payment on the IRT, no cash will change hands on the vehicles, which makes boarding faster and simpler. At the end of the trip, commuters must swipe their cards again to exit the station. The card reader at the gate will determine the distance travelled and deduct the cost of the journey from the balance on the card.

The IRT stations will have electronic display boards that will tell commuters how long it will take until the next IRT vehicle arrives at the station.

As soon as the IRT vehicle arrives, commuters will get onto the IRT vehicle and it will
leave the station. The IRT vehicle will not wait until it is full before it leaves.

The glass doors of the IRT trunk stations will be aligned with the doors of the vehicles. As the vehicle pulls onto the station the vehicle doors will automatically open at the same time as the station doors. The station’s floor height and the vehicle’s floor height will be the same, providing easy access for prams, bicycles and wheelchairs.

Construction

Work on the dedicated roadways and IRT stations for the first phase is well underway.

Construction can be seen along the R27 between Bayside Centre in Table View and Milner Road in Milnerton, the red pigmented IRT lanes can also be seen along this route. Construction on the old railway siding in Paarden Eiland is underway as well as construction of the Civic Station, the main IRT terminus in the City, situated underneath the Civic Centre in Hertzog Boulevard.

By May 2010, in time for the Soccer World Cup event and forming part of the World Cup Transport Plan there will be a trunk services between the Airport, the CBD and the Stadium. There will be an Inner City Feeder Service, around the City Bowl, the CBD, Green Point and Sea Point with links to Camps Bay and Hout Bay. A match day shuttle service between the CBD and the Stadium Station will move spectators to and from the match, and there will be depot facilities for the IRT vehicles within the Inner City.

After the FIFA 2010 World Cup, the IRT trunk service between the Airport and the CBD and the Inner City Feeder Service will be implemented permanently. A Trunk route between the Atlantis, the CBD and Granger Bay will also be implemented as well as a trunk service between the CBD and Table View (as far as Bayside Centre).

The City is negotiating with National Government for additional funding to implement feeder services in the Atlantis and Table View area as well as a trunk route from Bayside along Blaauwberg Road linking Du Noon and Doornbach onto the IRT system.

The route from the CBD to Atlantis will leave from the main terminus on Hertzog Boulevard, underneath the Civic Centre, called Civic Station. From there, the IRT lanes will travel through the Culemborg site, following old railway lines, which have been converted to IRT lanes, under the N1 and through Paarden Eiland. The IRT lanes will turn left into Milner Road, and then right onto the R27 (near the Milnerton Informal Market), passing the lagoon and Sunset beach and onto Bayside Centre.

In two small sections between Boundary Road and Woodbridge Island, and along the Milnerton Lagoon, there is not enough room for IRT bus lanes in both directions. For this reason there will only be an IRT bus lane South bound, towards the City. At Bayside Centre the dedicated lanes will stop, but the service will continue all the way to Atlantis, this is due to traffic congestion on that section not yet warranting dedicated lanes.

Once operational the IRT will provide Capetonians and visitors with a top quality, safe and reliable public transport service, that is focused on the customer.