South Africa To Introduce Reversible Bus Lane Controlled Through AI (Photos)

The City of Cape Town said it would soon be activating a reversible MyCiTi bus lane along the R27 between Loxton Road and Broad Road in Milnerton through its Transport Network Technology branch.

The bus lane, exclusively for use of MyCiTi vehicles will permit inbound travel towards the Civic Centre in the morning and outbound travel towards Table View in the afternoon.

The alternating direction flows will be controlled and monitored through a technological system designed and implemented by the City.

Mayoral committee member for urban mobility, Rob Quintas, said the red bus lanes along the R27 are for the exclusive use of MyCiTi buses that operate the service and given the constraints, the City could not build a dual carriageway system between Loxton Road.

He said since the construction of the bus lane along this stretch has been used by buses travelling towards the Cape Town CBD only.

But, this will change soon with the use of technology and goes live with the new alternating direction system.

“This system will allow buses to travel along the red lane towards the Cape Town CBD from 12.05am until 12pm daily. Then, the lane will be closed between 12pm and 1pm and will reopen again at 1pm to allow buses to travel on the red bus lane in the opposite direction, from the Cape Town CBD to Blaauwberg, until midnight. Digital notice boards will reflect “OPEN” and “CLOSED” or both “CLOSED” depending on the time of day,” Quintas said.

The aim is to have the reversible bus lane active by end of the month.

“Up until now, the single bus lane between Loxton Road and Zastron Road has only served the commuters travelling towards the Cape Town CBD during the day.

“I am incredibly excited that the new reversible bus lane system will allow us to put the red lane to good use, and utilise its maximum potential. Soon, we will have buses travelling in the opposite direction, towards Blaauwberg in the afternoons, when this stretch typically becomes heavily congested.

“MyCiTi passengers making the outbound journey towards Table View in the afternoon will enjoy shorter journeys in the afternoon peak, and fewer buses in the general lanes will speed up movement for private vehicles too, thus, other road users will benefit as well.

“This is a smart solution to a mobility challenge and I’d like to commend our Urban Mobility officials for thinking outside of the box in our commitment to alleviating traffic congestion and promoting use of public transport as our Cape Town continues to grow,” Quintas said.

The City’s Transport Network Technology branch developed the system and is busy conducting final tests before the official launch later this month.

Quintas said this project is an example of an innovative approach the City has taken to squeeze out more capacity from its existing road network to ensure that public transport users are prioritised.

He said two thermal AI cameras have been installed at the entrances of this lane to detect unauthorised vehicles, reverse entry, and entry-without-exit.

The system will be monitored from the Transport Management Centre (TMC) using a custom bus-lane dashboard. Operating personnel at the TMC will manage the system and actively monitor the lane for any safety concerns. If any problem is detected, both red bus lane signs will revert to closed and an alarm will be raised at the TMC.

“For example, if a bus is counted entering the lane and is not counted leaving the lane within a predefined time of four minutes, it will be accepted that the bus has stopped somewhere in the lane and the alarm will be sent to the TMC. The lane will then be closed in both directions. The CCTV system will be checked and the operator will take the appropriate action,” Quintas said.