Riding Cape Town’s Southern Line

Metrorail’s Southern Line is far better than it was, but some problems still need fixing. Photo: Joseph Bracken

Last week, this GroundUp reporter rode the Metrorail Southern Line between Fish Hoek and Rondebosch for one week to assess the quality of the train services provided to commuters.

This is a vital line connecting the city centre and the southern part of the city, a route not serviced by MyCiTi buses. The route also has potential for tourists, especially heading south from Muizenberg.

Currently, the trains run every 20 minutes on weekdays. They appear to be clean, safe and mostly on time, but there are some concerns.

Currently, passengers can only buy tickets with cash. Sometimes there were long queues to buy tickets as ticket administrators had to count out the change for each commuter.

According to Zinobulali Mihi, the acting head of marketing and communication for Passenger Rail Association South Africa (PRASA), PRASA’s policy is to accept only cash as payment for tickets. There are plans for an automated ticketing system (ATS) that will allow card payments, said Mihi. “The date is yet to be confirmed.”

“With the rebuilding of rail that is ongoing post-Covid, under the Recovery Programme, we have invested in many station upgrades and innovation systems.” These projects include the implementation of the ATS and fencing around more railways and stations, said Mihi. (Metrorail did not break down during or because of Covid; its decline in Cape Town occurred years before.)

There is currently no automated system for checking tickets which means that a PRASA employee has to watch the gates to the platforms.

Fish Hoek station, which is one of the major stations on the Southern Line, does have automated access gates that are meant to open when a ticket is scanned, but these are currently not working. The doors sometimes do not operate due to vandalism, said Mihi.

PRASA has historically had issues with automated access gates. In 2018 GroundUp reported on a R1.1-billion tender for automated access gates in Cape Town station which hadn’t worked since their installation in 2010.

Last week, on two occasions the ticket office was closed at Rondebosch station during the late afternoon commute. This meant people were able to get on a train without paying.

Asked about this, Mihi said the Rondebosch station has staff deployed in the ticket office all day, including morning and afternoon peak periods.

At Fish Hoek station there are people who check the tickets of commuters getting off the train. But at a smaller station, such as Kalk Bay, there is no check. On my journey last Friday afternoon, ticket booths at both the Kalk Bay and Rondebosch stations were closed, which meant there was no way to buy a ticket.

According to Mihi, there are limited staff in the region to check tickets, so key stations are being prioritised. In holiday periods, Kalk Bay station is prioritised. “Customers are legally obligated and required to purchase their train tickets for their intended train trips without expecting their tickets to be verified,” said Mihi.

At Fish Hoek station, there are issues with the digital displays on the platforms which are meant to inform passengers when the trains arrive. Last week there was no way for commuters to know how long they would have to wait for a train.

The boards sometimes do not operate due to power issues, said Mihi. This can be caused by vandalism of the power cables, she explained.

The line currently ends at Fish Hoek, but trains used to run further south to Simon’s Town. It’s unclear if the full line will be resurrected.

The trains were reasonably full in the mornings and evenings during rush hour. But I could always get a seat within about five minutes of boarding the train.

All in all, Metrorail still needs to improve a number of things if the Southern Line is to get the number of commuters it had over a decade ago.

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