Stellenbosch Has a Congestion Problem—What’s the Best Way to Fix It?

After a packed first chapter meeting on 2 April 2025, Young Urbanists & Friends in Stellenbosch are inviting the public—to help decide the top actions we should take to solve the town’s congestion crisis.

As shared in our ‘town hall meeting’ titled “Stellenbosch is Stuck,” the Municipality has consistently failed—or is struggling—to implement these plans, for a range of reasons.

But one thing continues to amaze us: why don’t they simply follow through on their own policies? Doing so would position them as a leading municipality in tackling congestion, reforming apartheid spatial planning, and redefining what a South African town can be in the post-apartheid era.

So, in this article, we’ve included two polls: the first focuses on short-term goals to be achieved this year, while the second looks at medium- to long-term goals that YU, together with its partners in academia, the private sector, and civil society, will work towards to address congestion once and for all.

Illustration 01: A park-and-ride facility has been part of the Municipality’s plans for nearly a decade, yet it has never been implemented. 

Stellenbosch as we know it is at a tipping point. Congestion isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s threatening our economy, our future, and our quality of life. A park-and-ride facility has been part of the Municipality’s plans for nearly a decade, yet it has never been implemented. The proposed Eikestad Parking Lot development not only contradicts the Municipality’s own key frameworks, but it is also likely to worsen congestion.

Furthermore, serious concerns have been raised about the process followed, particularly around public participation and how the project has been packaged as a public-private partnership for submission to Treasury in Pretoria.

You can add your voice to our petition, which has already been signed by over 3,500 people—representing more than 90% of residents surveyed who oppose the Municipality’s chosen location for the parking lot

Illustration 02: Light rail returns to the Western Cape - call it MyCiTi or MyDorp, the point is cars only move 1.4 persons on average, where an average tram can move up to 300 people at once. That is congestion busting, not more road upgrades. 

Interestingly, trams are already included in the Municipality’s MSDF. With limited public transport options currently available—aside from rail and MBT’s, which is slowly returning (side note: you can now view PRASA’s timetable on Google, thanks to the YU community)—rail remains the most promising path forward. This year, we need a clear and serious commitment from the Municipality to co-investigate a tram feasibility study in partnership with the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town.

Our community has already mapped a proposal for tram lines connecting Stellenbosch to the Cape Town CBD, with routes via Bellville, Somerset West, the airport, and more.

So, what Came Out of the Meeting?

We discussed where Stellenbosch is stuck and what it could be doing differently. A few key points stood out:

• Stellenbosch is perfect for experimentation—compact, resourced, and full of young people with fresh ideas.

• The problem isn’t lack of ideas, it’s lack of coordination, a local government allowing for experimentation and political commitment.

• Students are both part of the problem and the solution—traffic clears out during varsity breaks, and high car use is driven by poor housing and limited mobility alternatives such as poor NMT and no-park and ride linked to a congestion charge.

• Marginalised communities are being left out—current plans don’t properly consider transport realities in areas like Kayamandi and how people walk and cycle between the informal and formal areas.

Next Steps

Change is possible and it starts now working together between civil society, private sector, academia and all sphere’s of government. What we will do is consolidate the results from these polls and actively petition and collaborate with government—alongside our many partners across sectors—to drive positive advocacy. So here’s what you need to do before exiting this article.

1. Vote in both polls (scroll to the top).

2. Make sure you share this article with almal - your Ouma, neighbour, your dentists, you name it.

3. Come to our next Chapter meeting on the 7th of May - you can RSVP here if you haven’t.

4. Follow us on Linkedin and Instagram or become a member to stay up-to-date. We also have a special WhatsApp group for Stellenbosch that you can join.

We need to keep momentum going. That means more visibility, more coordination, and more people showing up, especially in spaces like IDP meetings, where policy gets shaped.

This is another reminder to send in your email—public participation for the Draft IDP and Budget is now open! This is your chance to help shape the direction of our town’s development and priorities. Make sure to use their form or email idp@Stellenbosch.gov.za.

A little tip, copy the content of the article and ask Al to put a submission together. If you want more solutions, we put this rough draft concept docunment together that you can use.

If you care about Stellenbosch’s future, now’s the time to raise your hand.

Vote. Show up. Help make it happen.

Young Urbanists and friends are fuelled by passion; every bit counts, whether through new individual memberships (that will always be free), organisational membership, Patreon membership (for those individuals with extra Rands, Euro’s that want to support a specific urban theme), project adoptions or any plain simple donations (email us). Please consider contributing to:

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Thank you so much. Yours in greener, saver and people-first streets,

Roland Postma, and Friends

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