The City of Cape Town is concerned that its MyCiTi bus network will be severely affected by the national government phasing out the Public Transport Network Grant by 2027/28. Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks
- The City of Cape Town says the phase-out of the national government Public Transport Network Grant threatens MyCiTi’s existing services and its planned expansion.
- National Treasury says the grant is being phased out because it has underperformed nationally, with funding to be redirected towards passenger rail.
- The City says the MyCiTi system has been successful and grown by 68% since 2021 and should not be cut due to other metros failing to use the grant money effectively.
- #UniteBehind warns that underfunding could mean higher fares and fewer trips, and that Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain, already hit by the collapse of the Central Line, could again lose out.
The City of Cape Town is concerned that its MyCiTi bus network will be severely affected by the national government phasing out the Public Transport Network Grant (PTNG) within the next three years.
The grant was the City’s primary means of funding and expanding the MyCiTi network.
The Treasury has found that the grant has not performed nationally as expected.
“The grant has not improved access to public transport relative to the investments made,” said Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana in his February Budget speech. The decision forms part of the government’s targeted and responsible savings initiative “to weed out inefficiencies and low-performing programmes” that identified R12-billion in savings.
Transport minister Barbara Creecy told the portfolio committee in June that the grant was underperforming and not achieving what was intended.
We reported earlier this year how Pietermaritzburg spent R1-billion of the grant on a bus system that never became operational.
But the City’s mayco member for urban mobility, Rob Quintas, said the state should not throw the baby out with the bathwater. He said it was true that Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems in some metros and large towns had failed. In some cases, billions had been allocated without a single scheduled service ever commencing. But MyCiTi had succeeded.
Phasing out the grant would affect future network expansion, operational sustainability, and the existing MyCiTi bus service.
The phase 2A expansion to the Cape Flats, starting in July 2027, is set to benefit over 1.4-million residents across 30 neighbourhoods, from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha to Wynberg and Claremont.
“We have recorded over 19 million passenger journeys per annum on the city-wide services over the past two financial years,” said Quintas. It has grown by 68% since 2021.
The latest audited statistics showed 1.6-million passenger journeys in June 2026, an increase of over 30,000 on June 2025, he said.
Quintas said the R7.1-billion in PTNG funding the City was allocated for ten years in 2018, remains in place until June 2028. R2.2-billion of the grant remains. This would cover the MyCiTi phase 2A capital infrastructure, construction of the metro-south east corridor, and the MyCiTi depots and stations.
But the loss of the PTNG funding after 2028 creates “uncertainty regarding the long-term sustainability and expansion of the system”, according to Quintas.
Council has approved a maximum contribution of 5% from rates towards direct expenditure once phase 2A is implemented and operational, said Quintas.
Meanwhile, the City is pursuing various mitigation strategies, including cost-saving measures, but these are no substitute for national funding certainty, said Quintas.
“We don’t oppose the proposed creation of a Public Transport Fund to replace the PTNG and other funding streams, but we are calling for long-term certainty and performance-based funding for MyCiTi and other successful programmes,” said Quintas.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said in a media statement in May that cuts and funding uncertainties had placed “the new Cape Flats route and the entire MyCiTi service at risk”.
National government is withdrawing money without a replacement in place
Adam Narain, research and communications coordinator at #UniteBehind, said the City’s draft integrated transport plan acknowledges the grant phase-out in a footnote, but still books PTNG money for capital and operations every year until 2030/31.
“It appears that the City is planning on money that won’t arrive, while the national government is withdrawing money without a replacement in place,” said Narain.
Narain said the City now plans to buy only 70 buses for phase 2A, not 221, and to build seven managed stations, not 12.
The people who stand to lose are the same communities in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain who have already endured the collapse of the Central Line, he said.
“In the long term, if no alternative funding is sourced, what happened to Dial-a-Ride may happen to MyCiTi. When a service is underfunded, the gap is closed through higher fares, reduced service or fewer people served. Dial-a-Ride has seen all three: fare increases, fewer trips, and users excluded from the service. MyCiTi fares have already risen this year on the back of the fuel price crisis,” said Narain.
Fares rose on 1 July by up to 50%, depending on the length of the trip.
The Treasury has said that the money will be redirected towards passenger rail.
“While we welcome investment in rail, it cannot come at the cost of services that people depend on, including accessible transport for persons with disabilities, which the law requires,” said Narain.
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