Cape Town - With a capacity crowd set to watch the Castle Lager Rugby Championship Test between the Springboks and All Blacks at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday, fans and spectators can expect free park-and-ride services in the city.
With kick-off at 5pm, the Springboks will return to play in the city for the first time since their victory against Wales in front of a 52 000-strong crowd in 2022.
It is also the first time the Springboks go head-to-head with the All Blacks in the Mother City since 2017.
City Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said: “Cape Town is a city united in pride and excitement as we prepare to host our world champion Bokke for this historic clash against our greatest rivals.”
To support this major event, the City announced an expanded and free shuttle service for spectators from Century City, UCT, the CTICC, Thibault Square and Civic Centre stations on Saturday.
A dedicated e-hailing area will also be established on P13 in Greenpoint Main Road between York Road and Wigtown Road.
Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, said traffic congestion was expected on match day.
“We would like to encourage spectators to make use of the park-and-ride system to alleviate the pressure on the roads.
“Parking around the stadium is limited, and we would also like to discourage people from parking illegally in the residential areas in their pursuit of parking close to the stadium. Illegally parked vehicles will be fined or towed away.
“We are deploying our safety and security personnel to work with SAPS in taking care of safety at this event. This is a wonderful occasion that a lot of people have been anticipating for some time, let’s work together to make it a seamless and memorable experience for all,“ Smith said.
Stadium gates are expected to open at 12.30pm, ahead of the curtain raiser between the Springbok Women against the Barbarian Women at 1.30pm.
The first shuttle from all pick-up points will depart at 12pm.
At the Civic Centre, the City will open its 475 parking bays for ticketed rugby fans on a first-come first-served basis from 11am.
The parking areas are accessible from Hertzog Boulevard incoming and on Civic Road. The parking is free.
The shuttle service from UCT’s Upper Campus and Century City Steelbridge E-Parking will operate until 4.45pm.
At UCT, spectators can park on Upper Campus and catch the shuttle at the UCT Shuttle North Stop (next to the dam).
Century City Steelbridge E-Parking will have 500 free parking bays for match ticket holders on a first-come first-served basis.
The parking area on Century Boulevard will be monitored by security but is at owner’s risk.
On-street parking in the CBD is available for free from 1pm.
The last return bus from the stadium to the pickup points leaves at 9.30pm.
sibuliso.duba@inl.co.za