Preparing for a safe holiday season

WITH the December holidays just around the corner and families beginning to prepare for their long road trips, Joe Gqabi Bus Terminus in Philippi, Cape Flats, is already gearing up for an influx of travellers.

Western Cape Long Distance Bus Association secretary Gordon Makaluza said they were ready for the coming weekends, which would see them on their toes making sure that everyone adhered to the Covid-19 regulations by wearing masks and observing social distancing.

Makaluza said that while the government had interventions in place to curb the spread of Covid-19, each commuter was expected to wear a cloth mask before boarding a bus or any other mode of public transport.

As part of the Western Cape government’s Covid-19 awareness and enforcement campaign, Transport and Public Works MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela on Sunday visited the Joe Gqabi interchange to encourage travellers to follow the Covid-19 golden rules of hygiene for keeping safe, and to ensure operators and public transport passengers complied with Alert Level 1 regulations.

Madikizela said the purpose of the visit was to engage transport operators and passengers and distribute educational material aimed at positively influencing travellers to behave responsibly while using the road network.

Madikizela said the Western Cape was still expecting an influx of vehicular traffic from other parts of the province over the festive season, and while that was a good news for the tourism economy, it would require them to take extra measures to keep the roads safe and to limit the spread of Covid-19 infections.