The MyCiTi bus ridership figures for December 2011 show that ridership for the MyCiTi continues to experience positive growth and that more people are using MyCiTi to connect to Cape Town.

The ridership figures for the MyCiTi buses over the festive season are both surprising and pleasing. The average daily ridership on weekdays on all the services totalled approximately 11 497 per week, compared to approximately 11 248 in November.

Passenger trips – where one trip is counted as one person’s complete journey, regardless of how many times that change from feeder to trunk buses and vice versa (excluding Airport services) are as follows:

December (average ticket sales per day, broken down by week)

• Week one 11 093
• Week two 10 063
• Week three 10 119
• Week four (10 days) 9 142

Also encouraging to see is the increase in the use of the passenger journeys on the Airport shuttle from 1 - 31 December 2011, amounting to 12 290, an 11% increase on November's figures.

“The passenger figures for the month of December are very encouraging and exciting. During a month when many people take leave from work we could have expected a decline in passenger numbers from previous months - as is experienced by other scheduled bus services in the City. The fact that our passenger numbers have shown growth from November is good news and is a clear indication that the service is taking root as a public transport service with substantial off-peak travel. It is increasingly clear that there is a good appetite for this service and we are encouraged that people are using the service for their daily commute to and from work and also to get to and from recreational activities. We also saw many visitors to the City using the service, including the airport service which continues to also see a slow but continuous steady increase in the numbers of riders using the service,” says Brett Herron, Mayoral Committee Member for Transport, Roads and Stormwater.

Also during the month of December over 2 000 myconnect cards were sold. Remember to get your card before 15 January to be entered into a draw to win one of these special prizes: 

• First prize: one free six month pass to ride the MyCiTi buses valid from 1 February – 31 July 2012 
• Second prize: one of five free three month passes to ride the MyCiTi buses valid from 1 February – 30 April 2012 
• Third prize: one of ten free one month passes to ride the MyCiTi buses valid from 1 – 29 February 2012

All customers who get their myconnect cards at any time up to close of business on 15 January 2012 qualify for the competition.

It is advisable to get your myconnect card before the paper tickets expire on 27 January. This will ensure that you avoid the queues when the myconnect card becomes the only accepted method of payment for trips on the MyCiTi buses, from 28 January 2012.

The myconnect cards are currently available for purchase at all open MyCiTi station ticket kiosks.