Table Mountain, which commands an excellent view over the inner city area of Cape Town, is the spot which no tourist to Cape Town can afford to miss. The cable car station leading up to the mountain is situated on the northern edge of the urban area at an altitude of 300 m and can currently only be reached by car or bus along a very steep road.
A candidate LRT route has been proposed to carry tourists visiting the Waterfront from the CBD through the inner city and up to near the cable station.
The route can only go to near the cable station because of the steep gradient, however, it is anticipated that extension can be achieved when the cable car is renewed.
This route is currently served by city buses (32 buses per day going one way), and the high frequency of these bus services suggests that a high demand for the LRT can be expected.
The required line extension is approximately 3 km.
6.4 CBD-Olympic Facilities
Cape Town is bidding to host the Olympic Games in 2004 and plans to construct the Main Olympic Stadium and Athletes' Village on old army land approximately 10 km east of the CBD. Furthermore, there are plans to use an old rail freight yard of approximately 600 ha in the district of Culemborg half way between the CBD and Olympic Stadium as a site for construction of additional Olympic facilities and the implementation of residential and commercial development.
Two heavy-rail railway lines of Metro possessing five and seven stations respectively run parallel in both end of this area (average distance between stations is 1.6-1.4 km), and these lines should bear the public transport of Metro within the area. However, the LRT could become an effective complimentary service to the Metro lines in order to provide flexible transportation to the new development district and Olympic facilities and also the new residential land, etc. following the end of the Olympics.
The plans being considered would see the LRT joining the Metro line near the CBD and using the same track with Metro trains to provide access to newly built minor-section stations in newly developed areas away from the Metro stations. A new line for exclusive LRT use would also be constructed to provide services up to the area containing the Olympic Stadium.
