From the viewpoint of avoiding an adverse impact in terms of the urban landscape, noise and hindrance to road traffic, etc., the subway is the most preferable transport system for a large city, however, the immense initial investment cost required for subway construction gives it a poor operating balance. One way to reduce the amount of initial investment is to adopt linear drive rolling stock which makes it possible to reduce the size of tunnel sections, however, this does not allow a dramatic cut in investment cost to be achieved and cannot be called a wise choice in the case of a city where a large transport demand cannot be anticipated.
The supposed peak transportation volume on the CBD-Waterfront route is 3,300 people per hour. A maximum of only 4,000 could be expected if fluctuations were included, and it is considered that the transport demand on any of the proposed extended sections would not exceed this figure. Moreover, in view of the already highly mature urban structure of Cape Town, it is impossible to foresee any dramatic increases in the transport demand in the future.
In consideration of the above points, introduction of a subway or linear subway cannot be said to be appropriate.
From the viewpoint of fulfilling the required transportation capacity, a bus or tram system is also unacceptable. Therefore, the remaining alternatives that could be selected are the LRT, the new transit system, or the monorail.
