Trams to make a comeback in Cape Town?

Lester Kiewit speaks to Luke van Wyk, Urban Mobility and Engineering Lead from the Young Urbanists Committee.

Like many cities, Cape Town used to have a tramway system, and the Young Urbanist team is looking into reintroducing it.

The organisation is studying the feasibility of these tram systems and getting public buy-in to see if this transport system is worth bringing back.

"The feasibility study is still in progress but it would operate as a regular tram with rails in the road and overhead cables... a lot of the rails are still in the CBD and underneath the tar... so it's there, we would just need to look into it and see who we can get onboard when it comes to public operators..."

- Luke van Wyk, Engineering Lead - Young Urbanists Committee

"At this stage, we're just trying to create awareness and excitement around it so we've got some public support, so that when we bring it to the City, there will be a lot of support already."

- Luke van Wyk, Engineering Lead - Young Urbanists Committee

Van Wyk says this can offer commuters within the City an efficient way of getting around while easing congestion.

"Trams are different to other rail systems because you can miss traffic and you have the flexibility to operate on mixed roads as well when there are space constraints."

- Luke van Wyk, Engineering Lead - Young Urbanists Committee

"Trams can offer an efficient way of moving people... so it would be great to have this choice... trams would fit in perfectly in this multi-modal basket of transport options in Cape Town."

- Luke van Wyk, Engineering Lead - Young Urbanists Committee

"It could also be useful in the city as a mode of transport, ease congestion and help people get around the City especially in areas where there are high passages of movement."

- Luke van Wyk, Engineering Lead - Young Urbanists Committee

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.