Public Transport to take new measures against bus drivers

Instead of revoking the bus permits, other measures will be taken against bus drivers. Officials want to try a different strategy because reports indicate that after a bus driver is caught violating the bus permit is revoked and the bus is taken off the streets for at least two weeks. But the bus driver simply starts driving another bus which means that the measure does not have the desired effect. Maikel Marengo, head of the Public Transportation Department, explained that his department introduced a new bus driver’s card to make sure that the bus driver behaves responsibly in traffic. The new bus driver’s card has 4 circles. Each circle has a different color. There are four colors namely green, blue, red and black. Every time a bus driver is caught violating a traffic law, a hole is put in one of the circles. When the final circle or the black circle is pricked, the bus driver’s card is revoked. The bus driver is then banned from driving any buses for a whole year. In other words four strikes and the bus driver is out of the game for an entire year. After a year has passed, he or she can request a new bus driver’s card. During an inspection that was carried out along the Jagernath Lachmonstraat on Friday, the inspectors from the Public

Transport Department that about two dozen drivers did not have the new bus driver’s card. Marengo explained that they requested the card but never picked it up. “These inspections are aimed at forcing them to pick up their bus driver’s card. The bus permit is revoked if they do not have the new bus driver’s card. They can pick up their bus permit after they are in possession of the new bus driver’s card.”