Cape Town’s “bicycle mayor”, Sindile Mavundla, is on a mission to promote cycling in Cape Town.
And it being transport month the Western Cape MEC for mobility, Daylin Mitchell, highlighted the importance of paying special attention when we design communities and investing in infrastructure, to promote non-motorised transport like bicycles and build more bicycle lanes.
“Cycling is a low-carbon and affordable mode of transport,” he said.
For Mavundla, the promotion of cycling and advocacy work in adequate infrastructure, earned him the unofficial title of bicycle mayor by the Dutch Consulate - a position he’s using to hold government to their promises.
“My job is to fast-track the progress of cycling in the Western Cape and work with the government. It’s an unofficially official position.” he said.
“The City of Cape Town has a cycling strategy with a goal to increase cycling. Cycling’s contribution to transport is sitting at 1% at present. By 2030, they want that to be 8% but to get there a few things need to happen,” he added.
Mavundla said there were multiple challenges for cyclists on the road in Cape Town.
“Safety is a big concern. If I can feel comfortable with my wife, Ncumisa, riding to work on her own, that will mean we’ve gotten where we need to be,” he said.
“People either get knocked over or their safety is at risk on the road and they risk being attacked.”
Mavundla noted that cyclists need ample lighting on the road.
“Without proper lighting on cycling pathways, cyclists could injure themselves and cause accidents on the road,” he said.
“We need demarcated safe parking bays for bicycles. We need to come up with concept design solutions because the painting on the floor does not work, cars drive over it,” he added.
To bring his vision to life, Mavundla has embarked on working with the City of Cape Town (CoCT) to advise on infrastructure development for cycling.
With the right design and infrastructure, he envisions cycling being secure, convenient, and comfortable.
To achieve his objectives, Mavundla said the City must foster a culture of cycling, develop safe, independent infrastructure, and establish a network that connects to other forms of transportation.
“It has been shown that painting lanes on the ground is unsafe and ineffective; as a result, individuals have been killed when hit by cars,” he said.
“We have confidence that the CoCT can get 50% of people to use bicycles for short trips by 2023.”
With a 12-metre shipping container, an entrepreneurial vision and an ambitious spirit, Mavundla was able to open his store, Khaltsha Cycles, in late 2019.
Three years later, and a third store will be opened in Stellenbosch to grow his organisation’s reach outside the two Khayelitsha branches.
The idea for the bicycle stores was sparked when Mavundla started teaching cycling classes in 2017.
“When people had mastered riding a bicycle, they wanted to purchase bicycles, and that is how we discovered a demand in the neighbourhood,” he said.
Mavundla acquired seed funding from the Tour de France to open Khaltsha Cycles. When he opened the bicycle store in 2019, it first operated as an online store due to the pandemic.
Khaltsha sells new and pre-owned bicycles, accessories, offers a repair service to clients and hosts lessons on how to ride a bicycle every Saturday.
The Khayelitsha entrepreneur started cycling when he was 4-years-old when his parents got him one to go to the shop with.
“For them, it was a solution to get me home quicker, but for me, it was a sign of freedom to go out and explore,” he said.
Rachael Tena has been a client of Kaltsha Cycles for the past two years.
“Khaltsha Cycles gives people an opportunity to get away from whatever issues and troubles plague them,” she said.
“Children who come to Sindile for lessons are shown that life has more to offer. I appreciate how the company goes above and beyond to give back to the community,” she added.
Mayco member for Urban Mobility, Rob Quintas said the City has ongoing projects to expand their non-motorised transport (NMT) and bicycle network.
“Where appropriate and possible, these are continuously developed for the benefit of those who commute using bicycles, as well for recreational purposes,” he said.
The latest progress report from the urban mobility portfolio committee was in September 2022 stated that the City’s NMT programme had 12 city-wide projects to improve infrastructure for cycling.
“The improvements that form part of the concept designs include implementing new sidewalks and cycle paths, widening and upgrading existing facilities, lighting and user-access improvements like dropped kerbs and tactile paving,” read the report.