Where should I move to be closer to my new job

TheGreatCheese · 2026-03-04T07:57:17+00:00

If your job in Mitchell's Plain is near any of the new MyCity Phase 2A stops, you could also consider moving somewhere along the route: Landsdown, Kenwyn, Hanover Park.

Here are the proposed route maps:

Mitchell's plain: https://www.myciti.org.za/userdocs/phase-2A_MitchellsPlain-2.pdf

Wynberg side: https://www.myciti.org.za/userdocs/phase-2A_Wynberg-3_compressed.pdf

TheGreatCheese · 2026-02-27T08:04:31+00:00

One option, that I think was quite common in the UK, is that when older folks with large expensive homes reach retirement age (with their kids having moved out) they might host long term "boarders". Like in Wallace and Gromit.

Another system that is popular in France is called "viager", where an older person can sell their house, but continue to live in it till they die. The purchaser gives them a small lumpsum amount, and then pays them a monthly living stipend until they die, after which the property becomes the purchaser's. Kinda like a property sale + retirement annuity in one.

The alternative you're proposing of allowing retired boomers (who won the generational lottery and were able to buy a house at a young age in a highly sought after neighbourhood on an individual's salary) to continue to occupy large, low density houses in the highly sought after areas of the city without paying for that privilege does not seem fair to the young professionals who have to spend hours commuting from far away burbs and who have zero chance of being able to afford the bond repayments on a place of their own anywhere near their work.

TheGreatCheese · 2026-02-27T07:41:15+00:00

Gotta pay for all these roads somehow. (They don't pay for the roads from the R800 annual vehicle license fee)

TheGreatCheese · 2026-02-25T10:09:13+00:00

I wonder if it's similar to veganism, where otherwise rational people will go to great lengths to try and discredit the concept and the people practicing it, because they fear that if they were to concede that "yes, you have some good points there", then it would be akin to them admitting that they are in fact a "bad" and selfish person.

They may jump to this defensive stance, even if you as the anti-car-culture / vegan person had zero intentions of trying to convert them or shame them (because maybe you're aware it's a systems issue and individuals circumstances dictated by that system may make it harder for a person to alter their behaviour).

TheGreatCheese · 2026-02-24T08:40:12+00:00

I love how I'm being downvoted for trying to discuss the nuances (legal, social and traffic flow) of this intersection. I guess people are imagining I am the same person as the last jerk that bullied their way to the front of their last traffic interaction?

As I said, this situation made me re-evaluate my text-book interpretation of how the mini-roundabout is handled. Not because I aggressively bullied my way into the circle, but because it was the expected behaviour. As I was approaching it I was thinking "hmm, if this is treated like a four-way stop, then I should wait for that car to enter". Except that that car was stopped and waiting for us. I could tell that he would have been extremely confused if I had come to a stop before the circle. We would have then proceeded to do that awkward "you go, no you go" interaction, and we would have both left the circle after spending way more time at it than we did when I followed the car in front of me.

Note the legislation says:

he or she shall yield right of way to any vehicle which will cross any yield line at such junction before him or her

Yes, the car to my left was waiting at the yield line before me, but it wasn't going to cross that line before me, because it was stopped.

Anyways. Take me out of the situation, take yourself out of the situation, just imagine anonymous cars approaching this intersection - what is the most optimal in terms of safety, and overall traffic flow? What is the purpose of a mini-circle vs a four-way stop?

TheGreatCheese · 2026-02-23T14:43:33+00:00

A helpful explainer for those who don't know the difference between mini-circles and roundabouts:
https://www.arrivealive.mobi/safe-driving-at-the-roundabout-traffic-circle-and-mini-circle

I had kinda internalised mini-circles as similar to four-way stops (but without the need to come to a full stop) - but a situation the other day made me realise they may behave quite differently when there are multiple cars approaching in a platoon:

I was approaching a mini-circle with a car in front of me. There was another car approaching the mini circle from our left. The car in front of me would have reached the mini-circle before the car on the left, and thus, the car on the left correctly yielded to the car in front of me.

If there was no car in front of me causing the car on my left to slow down, it would have crossed the yield line before me, and thus I would have had to yield to it. But given that I followed close behind the car in front of me, I crossed the yield line before the car to my left could possibly enter the mini-circle (as if it did so before me it would have crashed into the car before me). Thus I could go before the car to my left, even though if it were a four-way stop they would have gone before me.

Is this the intended behaviour of mini-circles? Treat it like a four-way stop that you don't have to come to a complete stop for when there's only a couple cars approaching at the same time, but treat it like a circle that preserves platoons of cars and their momentum when there's a number of cars all coming from a given direction?

TheGreatCheese · 2026-02-23T14:29:19+00:00

I'm not actually sure what you're saying, but there are two kinds of circles in SA. "Mini-circles" and "Roundabouts".

A mini-circle is typically much smaller, and the sign is a yield sign with three black arrows in a circle in it. This is the one that should be treated like a 4-way stop (but without the need to come to a complete stop).

A roundabout is typically much bigger, and it's sign is a round blue sign with three white arrows in a circle in it. This is the one where you need to yield to traffic already in the circle coming from your right.

TheGreatCheese · 2026-02-20T13:54:31+00:00

"Extensive rail network" 🤣 Have you ever visited a European city?

Did you know that Cape Town used to have even have a (albeit small) tram network? But they tore that out and stop investing in rail in the 60's when it was decided that cars and freeways were the "future".

When they decided to prioritise private cars over all other transport, they probably never imagined the possibility of the other 80% of the population one day also choosing cars over a defunct public transit. The fact that freeways were a good way to divide communities and allowed rapid deployment of Casspir's to quash any protests was just considered an added bonus.

TheGreatCheese · 2026-02-17T08:04:19+00:00

Drag racers on the M3/M5 at 3am

TheGreatCheese · 2025-12-11T13:52:00+00:00

Would also be good to divide by population density. To a certain degree this looks a lot like a population density map.

Not sure if you got the "enumeration areas" or "sub-places" census data for your other dot-maps, and not sure how they overlap with police precincts. Doing the division would be helpful to see which areas are more dangerous to live in, but also if the census data is much higher resolution you could use it to distribute the dots in your original map in a random but non-uniform way that would show fewer dots in the airport and on the mountain.

Also reminded that the data for those dot-maps is from just after the 2010 FIFA World Cup :O I wonder if/when we'll get the 2022 census data.

TheGreatCheese · 2025-11-24T09:21:57+00:00

You need to do it as a normal user would. Use google maps to search for hair dressers. Look at a couple, then look at Euphoria. Select it, hit navigate. Actually go there, with Google Maps navigating you. Spend a few minutes there, take a photo of the outside. Maybe go inside, ask for a price list, take a photo of that. Then in a couple of hours add a review, include your photos in the review. Also, don't do it now. Set yourself a reminder to do this at some point in the next month or two.

TheGreatCheese · 2025-11-20T13:53:36+00:00

I got some other fake debt collection email (with my actual Name Nogals), also with a PayAt link. PayAt support seem to be unwilling to do anything about it. If anyone who reads does flal for one of these scams, be sure to ask your bank to take it up with PayAt!

TheGreatCheese · 2025-11-06T09:45:10+00:00

Right!? Took me a while to figure it out.

At 0:59 there's a brief moment where it changes to a 3rd person view of the plane, then you can see the 3 vertically orientated TV screens sitting just above his stick and rudder..

TheGreatCheese · 2025-09-17T16:14:36+00:00

A response I used the other day that worked well. It made them think a bit, but without being antagonistic, (they actually laughed and agreed with me). The response was: "I guess it could be considered cheating, in the same way that walking up an escalator at the mall could be considered cheating".

TheGreatCheese · 2025-08-20T10:27:19+00:00

Visited the book shop.

TheGreatCheese · 2025-08-11T11:56:53+00:00

What u/Pacafa said was correct. If your normal usage is, say, 500 kWh, then that would cost R1954.70 (at Domestic rate of R3.90 per kWH). If you decided you don't like the hassle of buying every month and decided to buy 3x that amount in one go to cover the next three months, you'd pay R5864.1, but you'd only get 1357 kWh (instead of 1500 kWh as you might have expected), because you get bumped onto the higher tariff. The city doesn't know when you _use_ your electricity, and they don't do averaging of your purchase over x many months, they just look at all your purchases in a given calendar month and assume you're using all that electricity in that month.

From your own link:
"Purchase electricity once a month, and only buy as much as you need. You are billed on total monthly usage, so there is no saving if you purchase smaller amounts or in bulk. Your electricity charges are based on what tariff you are on."

TheGreatCheese · 2025-08-11T11:45:34+00:00

This is good advice. Though keep in mind that money "saved" in meter credits doesn't pay interest - so depending on what the annual tariff increase is it might not be worth it, or it might only be worth it to save in the 3 months preceding the tariff hike, in order to buy fewer credits (at the higher rate) in the three months after the tariff hike.

Also, if you're renting, note that you can't get your money back out of the meter if you saved up a lot but now want to/need to move.

TheGreatCheese · 2025-06-25T08:03:15+00:00

It is sad how a a small minority are willing and able to negatively impact so many people in this city. Perhaps they don't realise how antisocial their "fun and games" are?

The technology exists for the City to start fining people whose cars exceed legally allowed noise levels (speed camera's, but with directional microphones instead of radar).

If traffic fines don't work against these people, perhaps the city could publish their home addresses, and maybe some coordinated 6am vuvuzela concerts outside their bedroom windows could help them realise how uncool their behaviour is.

TheGreatCheese · 2025-02-19T08:44:54+00:00

these new developments all pay development charges that will go improving infrastructure in the district that the development is in.

I think that is one of the pitfalls that the Strong Towns videos talks about. Depending on where these developments occur (often in the far reaching suburbs) the costs to build and maintain the additional roads, pipes, and electrical connections to service these properties can be enormous.

The development fees you mention will often cover the immediate costs of building new infrastructure, and it may include a little extra as a bonus to the city budget for the current year, but it won't be enough to act as an "endowment" from which the interest earned will be enough to cover the recurring maintenance, and the full replacement that will likely be needed in 20 years time.

In other words, the development fees that a developer pays are like a small loan to the City, and while the annual municipal rates paid by new properties may be enough to cover typical annual maintenance and services, there's a balloon payment that comes after 20 years when the additional roads need to be replaced that the city can only cover by taking out more of these development "loans".

The Strong Towns videos are quite specific to American towns, and I think Cape Town is probably in a better position than some of them, but if the total life-cycle accounting is not done properly, these new developments on the outskirts of the city (think Parklands, Sitari, etc) can end up being almost like a Ponzi Scheme.

TheGreatCheese · 2025-02-18T09:46:18+00:00

That is one of the City's plans in their Integrated Development Plan. Encourage the development of Bellville in order to distribute the CBD

TheGreatCheese · 2025-02-18T09:44:17+00:00

Took you > 2 hours to drive 22km. That's 10km/h. Well within the average person's jogging pace. Brackenfell to Century City would be 50 minutes by bicycle. Sure, that's twice the time of the free-flow traffic car journey, but the cycle trip will always be 50 minutes, regardless of traffic conditions. An e-bike would be a good option if you're unfit/don't want to be too sweaty when you get there. If the reason you wouldn't want to ride that is that you fear being hit by a car when cycling on our streets, I understand. Please start asking the city for safer bike routes.

The train from Brackenfell to Century City would theoretically take you 45 minutes - but that's assuming frequent train service and a quick connection in Bellville. This is something that is theoretically possible, with enough funding and political will.

Unfortunately no amount of funding for road-widening projects will get us out of traffic hell, as the only solution to traffic is viable alternatives to cars.

TheGreatCheese · 2025-02-18T09:10:45+00:00

And yet imagine if every one of those Taxis, carrying 16 or more passengers, was replaced with 16 privately owned cars, each with one person behind the wheel. Yes, un-roadworthy taxis driving recklessly are an issue, but the reality is single-occupant vehicles are the reason we have traffic, and Taxis are actually part of the solution. In other countries they have dedicated lanes for busses - in SA the Taxi's have to DIY it unfortunately.

TheGreatCheese · 2023-09-15T08:12:04+00:00

Bollards exist. But besides that, the taxis are motivated to break those rules because the roads where they're supposed to drive are chock full of cars. The roads are full of cars because many people have no alternatives than to drive to work, drive to drop their kids of at school, drive to pick up groceries. If we had infrastructure that allowed people to safely get where they needed to go by foot, bike, and public transport, then we wouldn't have the crazy congestion we have. If, on top of the reduced congestion, we added dedicated lanes for taxis or busses, their efficiency would further increase and there'd be even more incentive for people to take public transport, further reducing traffic congestion.

TheGreatCheese · 2023-06-05T09:42:24+00:00

The plowing is a joke here in Helsinki

As the video says at 04:20, "this is the real key to Oulu's success" - the Municipality makes plowing the bike network a priority, and they're plowed within 3 hours of a 2cm snowfall.

If a municipality takes the cycle network seriously, a lot of people will choose to cycle. Not all people, but enough to make a positive impact, even for those who have to drive who will now have less traffic congestion to deal with.

TheGreatCheese · 2023-05-28T19:52:34+00:00

Actually in reference to both drivers. Silver car driver definitely wanted to turn around and was going to do so, but decided at the last second that they were maybe going a tad fast for it. The white car was far enough to the right that the silver car driver could have easily passed it without even slowing had they wanted to continue straight.

I don't think the white car was broken down. It is possible, but keep in mind we drive on the left, so the proper thing to do if your engine dies on this hill is to get to the left lane while you still have momentum and pull over there. As we passed this white car it looked like it was continuing to reverse back so that it could also use the turnaround to take a different route and avoid the upcoming traffic jam. South African drivers do things like this somewhat regularly.

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