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Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has awarded the tender to provide vehicles for its extended MyCiTi bus routes to Volvo SA, a city official said on Wednesday.
Volvo SA would provide 40 buses for the N2 express routes at a cost of R180m, said transport mayoral committee member Brett Herron.
He said the company would also provide ancillary services such as training and maintenance.
The N2 Express routes were expected to start rolling out at the end of the year, linking Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain with the city centre.
Herron said the buses on these routes would be able to carry more passengers than those being used in town.
He said a tender for 66 buses was being evaluated for other routes scheduled for launch this year and next year, with destinations including the Atlantic Seaboard, Melkbosstrand, Atlantis, Dunoon and Century City.
This tender was likely to be awarded next month.
The city's roll-out of MyCiti bus routes has been challenged in court by Golden Arrow Bus Services (Gabs).
Last month, the Western Cape High Court dismissed an application by Gabs to have the MyCiti bus service expansion halted in Cape Town.
Gabs had wanted to compel the city to enter into a mediation and arbitration process to resolve disputes relating to the roll-out of certain routes in the city.
It also wanted to prevent the city from negotiating and concluding a 12-year-contract to operate MyCiti buses in extended areas.
The high court found that compelling it to go through such a process would make it impossible for the city to fulfil its mandate to integrate services into an overall public transport system.
According to the National Land Transport Act, the city was obliged to negotiate, but not to agree to something.
The application was dismissed with costs.
On Monday, Gabs announced it had turned to the Supreme Court of Appeal to challenge the high court's decision.
"After careful deliberation of the judgment, Gabs has been advised that reasonable grounds exist for another court reaching a different conclusion on critical issues," Gabs general manager Francois Meyer said in a statement.
He said it had submitted an application for leave to appeal against the judgment.
"Gabs is concerned about the precedent that will be set in the future rollout of the MyCiti services if the judgment handed down... is upheld," said Meyer.
