Specialised vehicles to improve service delivery in Cape Town

Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Assets Management

Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Assets Management, conducted a site visit this week to the City of Cape Town’s new vehicles yard in Maitland.

‘As the incoming Mayco Member, my focus is to ensure that we equip Cape Town with an efficient environment which is conducive to economic growth and to explore opportunities to implement solutions in a quicker, simpler and cost-effective manner.

‘Therefore, I am pleased to announce that the R78 million budget that was approved by Council last year will be split into a R57 million allocation for the replacement of critical vehicles and a R21 million allocation for the replacement of plant and equipment. The City’s investment to support the fleet replacement programme contributes positively not only to create a safe city, but it also ensures a reliable, safe and available fleet for all City service directorates that will guarantee effective services directly to our communities.

‘The replacement vehicles range from patrol vehicles to utility vehicles and some specialised vehicles including fire trucks, whereas plant and equipment include digger loaders, bulldozers and front-end loaders among others. Furthermore, another R115 million has been approved by Council at the end of January this year as part of the 2019 adjustments budget. This funding will go towards the replacement of critical vehicles and the replacement of plant and equipment.

‘This investment gives effect to our Fleet Management Strategy which is designed to meet the strategic operational requirements of the City with regard to cost efficiency, fleet sustainability, average age of fleet and best business practice. We will be rolling out an optimised in-house model and hybrid approach to maintenance, together with a strategy to optimise the cost of ownership for the City in order to become competitive with external service providers,’ said Alderman Vos.

Since the unveiling of the Economic Opportunities and Asset Management Department’s ‘misuse and abuse’ decal in October 2018, a significant number of our 4,500 fleet vehicles have been fitted with the vehicle signage. This excludes the City’s safety and security vehicles.

‘Vehicle signage encourages good driving habits by an organisation’s drivers and the introduction of the ‘misuse and abuse’ decal is a means to discourage reckless and negligent driving by City personnel,’ said Alderman Vos.

Report bad driving behaviour

‘Bad driver behaviour and aggression on our roads can lead to fatalities of innocent civilians caused by reckless and negligent driver behaviour. I want to encourage the public to report any form of ‘misuse and abuse’ by City personnel who makes use of any of the City’s fleet assets in an attempt to reduce the risk of accidents and any potential hazards and, in doing so, to also reduce City costs on fleet assets,’ said Alderman James Vos.