Stranded bus passengers take action
Angry commuters prevent other vehicles from leaving
Furious APM bus commuters who endured a long wait for their bus to the Western Cape took a decision to prevent other APM buses from leaving the Komani bus station on Sunday night, when their bus missed its arrival time.
One of the commuters who wished to remain anonymous said: “I bought a return Delta ticket in Cape Town and they told me that I will go back with APM and I did not have an issue with that.
“I was supposed to go back on Sunday March 3 and my bus was supposed to depart at 5pm but people who were supposed to have left an hour before were still waiting for a bus.”
According to her, people who were supposed to leave at 7pm arrived while they were still waiting for their buses to arrive. She said at 8pm, an APM bus that was going to Gauteng arrived and they went to enquire about their buses and the driver first told them it was at the Shell Garage before stating it was in Cradock.
“The driver then took out his gun before Prasa security guards intervened and told him to not draw his weapon. “He apologised and left.
“We left the offices and in the morning we decided to block these three APM buses from leaving. Two of these buses were from the Western Cape and one from Gauteng. We called the police but they only laughed at us and left,” she said.
Nomvelo Mgoqi said: “I have been here for two days and I left Dutywa going to Cape Town not Komani but due to a bad service of APM, I was dumped here on Sunday morning.
“I expected APM to make the means for us to leave but nothing was done but passengers kept on arriving and not leaving.”
She said she was pregnant and had not eaten for two days.
“My face has changed complexion because of hunger. When I went to APM drivers to help me with food they told me to go to the Johannesburg office and ask for food.
“When we call their office for assistance there is no response and we are left stranded. APM is abusing passengers and their service is not improving.”
When The Rep arrived, the APM offices were closed and APM could not be reached by telephone.
Siphiwo Zwedala, who was travelling to Johannesburg, complained about being charged more than other passengers.
“Other passengers told us that they had paid R330 whereas I and my son paid R450 each. We left Mthatha to Komani where our bus kept dropping people who were going to Cape Town at different garages,” he said.
After their long wait their bus to the Western Cape eventually arrived at the bus station on Monday at 10.30am.