As the technology partner behind the new reversible bus lane system on the R27 in Milnerton, we are proud to have designed and supplied the intelligent infrastructure that will enable the City of Cape Town to optimise the MyCiTi corridor between Loxton Road and Broad Road.
Working closely with the City’s Transport Network Technology branch, our team delivered the advanced control, monitoring and safety systems that make this alternating-direction bus lane possible. The solution supports exclusive MyCiTi operations along the red bus lane, making use of a single dedicated 1.2km section of bus lane which allows inbound travel towards the Cape Town during the morning peak and outbound travel towards Table View in the afternoon.
Maximising Capacity Within Existing Constraints
Due to space limitations along this section of the R27, a dual carriageway bus system was not feasible. Since construction, the single dedicated lane has only accommodated buses travelling towards the Cape Town CBD. Our reversible lane solution changes that dynamic entirely.
Through an integrated control system, the lane will operate inbound towards the Cape Town CBD from 00:05 until 12:00 daily. It will then close between 12:00 and 13:00 to allow for directional changeover, reopening at 13:00 for outbound travel towards Blaauwberg until midnight.
This approach effectively doubles the utility of the existing infrastructure—without requiring additional road widening.
Intelligent Monitoring and Safety Systems
At the core of the solution is a custom-designed digital management platform integrated with the City’s Transport Management Centre (TMC). Consisting of the following:
- Four Fixed Message signs, two at each end of the lane, displaying real-time ‘OPEN’ and ‘CLOSED’ lane status.
- Two ThermiCam AI cameras installed at each end of the lane to detect unauthorised vehicles and safety risks.
- Local bus lane control system installed at each end of the lane, linked together by a dedicated fibre connection.
- Bus-lane web dashboard for live system monitoring and operational control at the TMC.
The system continuously tracks bus movements. If a bus enters the lane and does not exit within a defined safety period, the system automatically assumes an incident has occurred and takes the following actions to ensure safety:
- Both directional signs immediately revert to ‘CLOSED’.
- An automated lane closed alarm is reported at the TMC.
- The event is logged on the system.
- Recordings and images are captured to assist further investigation.
This automated fail-safe mechanism ensures that safety and reliability remain paramount while maintaining operational efficiency.
Supporting Smarter Urban Mobility
The reversible bus lane went live in May 2024 and was followed by final system testing and enhancements. As this was a brand-new type of system there was a learning curve and our engineers needed to dynamically make improvements due to unplanned difference in the real-world operations of the busses and other road users in the vicinity of the bus lane.
By delivering this intelligent lane-management solution, we are helping the City of Cape Town extract greater capacity from existing road infrastructure and prioritising public transport users. The project demonstrates how advanced traffic technology, AI-enabled monitoring, and real-time control systems can transform constrained corridors into high-efficiency transit routes.
An additional spin off from this reversible bus lane project is the ability to use the same hardware building blocks to provide bus priority detection at the intersections close to the reversible bus lane, as well as other locations on the MyCiti network, this allows enough time to provide a green wave to approaching buses reducing the delays at intersections for MyCiTi buses and improving the overall experience for public transport users.
We are proud to support the continued evolution of the transport network through the implementation of smarter, safer and more responsive urban mobility solutions.