Millions spent on Mamelodi bus route

THE Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport has revealed it has paid more than R114 million in bus subsidies to Putco in the past four years to provide a service in Mamelodi, north of Pretoria.

The funding has been a source of conflict with taxi operators, who staged a violent protest last week when buses owned by AutoPax – a subsidiary of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA – took over some of the routes vacated by Putco.

The taxi industry wants to take over running the bus service from Putco on the Mamelodi and Moloto routes, for which the department says it has allocated nearly R30m for 2015/16.

The department allocated nearly R80m for 2015/16 for routes in Mamelodi, Boksburg and the Vaal, but Putco is withdrawing from loss-making routes.

Putco is the biggest bus operator and, with 11 other con- tracted bus companies, shares 65 percent of the province’s R1.8 billion transport grant.

The taxi industry has questioned the legality of the short-ter m contract signed with AutoPax and the process followed in granting the company operating licences.

The department says details of how applications were processed may be obtained from the regulating entity.

Transport analyst Paul Browning said the problem with services like Putco and AutoPax in Mamelodi was that they were not part of an integrated transport network.

“They are leftovers from the apartheid era,” he said.

Former Gauteng roads and transport head Sbusiso Buthelezi said although the taxi industry carried an estimated 16 million people a day, it did not get a cent in subsidies.

“It makes no sense for the ANC government to perpetuate the economic discrimination and marginalisation of the taxi industry.”