Khayelitsha to CBD, monthly cost of transport for 1 person:
R9 000 - R12000 by cheap car (repayment, fuel, insurance, maintenance, registration, depreciation)
R1700 by car (petrol only)
R1100 by Taxi
R1000 by My Citi Bus
R300 by Train

The final years before Woodstock Beach was buried to never be seen again.

📍Cape Town

1935 vs 2024

Cape Town's car-centric, flats-in-the-middle-of-nowhere urban planning philosophy in action.

Why is this seen as more desirable than well-located urban infill development?

An easy way to take some cars off the road in Cape Town is to make it easy to operate small businesses such as medical practices, accountants, small cafes and corner shops in residential areas.

No arduous rezoning processes and no crazy parking requirements.

Before Cape Town was one big metropolitan municipality, it consisted of many smaller municipalities such as Rondebosch Municipality, Pinelands Municipality and the City of Belville.

Here's one small reminder of this past:

Cape Town's roads may be an 8/10, but CT's sidewalks are at most a 5/10:

• Full of cars, road signs, and other obstacles.
• Inferior engineering and materials
• Not continuous, and undersized
• Limited Maintenance compared to roads

Time for this to change

Cape Town trains are finally on Google Maps!

South Africa's rail recovery continues:

- Passenger trips are up 44 % from Jan to Nov 2024 compared to the same period in 2023

- Passenger trips are still down 540 million or 89 % compared to the same period in 2009.

Cape Town to Wellington via train:

1960s: 54 min, 12 trains a day

2025: 157 min, 2 trains a day

Digital nomads, tourists, increased migration aren't necessarily a bad thing for Cape Town

But... to avert a housing crisis, housing supply needs to increase. As simple as that.

Zoning code reform and more affordable housing projects are key.

Cape Town’s zoning code artificially restricts housing supply while increasing cost.

Today’s housing prices are going to seem like small potatoes with new pressures of digital nomads, skilled migration, tourism, semi-gration and economic growth.

2025 needs to be the year that MyCiti bus gets a proper ticketing system.

Not being able to purchase tickets online or use contactless payments is holding back ridership.

For the Gautrain to really work we need high density mixed-use developments immediately around the stations, not large parking lots and low density gated communities.

Nice to see some improved pedestrian infrastructure go up at Table Mountain.

Bree Street is pedestrianised every Sunday from 10:00 to 17:00 for the rest of 2024🚸
📍Cape Town

Hello South Africa... and everyone else!