Commuters have space for frustration
WHITE RIVER - The travel restrictions necessitated by the Covid-19 lockdown has had a detrimental effect on the transport industry in South Africa.
Workers making their way to and from work now have to contend with scrambling for buses to ensure that they too have a seat amid government’s 50 per cent capacity ruling.
For ordinary workers this means getting up at the crack of dawn, waiting at the bus terminus and jostling with other commuters to get a seat on the bus.
Failure to do so means having to wait up to an hour for another bus and inevitably arriving late for work.
A source who did not want to be named, spoke to Lowvelder and said, “Most of the commuters buy monthly tickets, but it seems that Buscor has not adapted its routes and schedules to the new regulations.
“People are left stranded and there is shoving and pushing between commuters battling for a seat.”
He singled out the White River bus terminus as a major problem.
According to the source, numerous complaints have been laid with Buscor, but no discernible action has been taken
“How can the company sell tickets without ensuring that there is adequate transport available for the people?” he asked.
The general manager of Buscor White River, Johan Du Plessis, extended his apologies to the affected commuters and said, “The Covid-19 lockdown started on March 27 at level 5 with restrictions.
“At that stage we were restricted to 50 per cent of our licensed carrying capacity. We are now at level 3 with still the same restrictions as imposed by government. It is very difficult to transport the passengers normally as we effectively have to use two buses to transport one busload of passengers.”
Du Plessis continued to say that eight more buses have been made available in an effort to ease the situation.
He added that buses cannot be procured from dealers and that the waiting period for a new bus is about six months, explaining that there were no funds available to purchase additional buses.
Du Plessis said that Buscor anticipated the problem to be exacerbated as restrictions are lifted as businesses and schools reopen.
“The number of passengers increase on a daily basis, which makes it impossible to have a set schedule.
“Everybody wants to travel during peak hours of 05:30 to 07:30 and 15:30 to 18:30,” he said.
Du Plessis explained that all the buses return to residential areas in the morning, sometimes making three trips.
“The result is that we only start transporting passengers at 06:30 from the White River terminus to White River suburbs.”
He conceded that transportation has become a problem, but urged commuters to look at the underlying causes.
“We still transport all our passengers and I agree that it might not be according to their specific times and needs, but as businesses reopen, the problem will escalate,” said Du Plessis.
He concluded by saying that requests had been made by the Southern African Bus Operators Association and the provincial government to ease the seating capacity on the buses and urged commuters to submit complaints to the Buscor White River offices.