Bus services come to an end for Alberton commuters

Hundreds of Alberton bus passengers will be left with no choice but to find other means of transport as Putco, GWIT and other bus services will be no longer offering their services to locals as of December 1.

This conclusion comes after the buses operating in Gauteng and the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport (GDRT) entered a new contract. One of the stipulations in the contract is that each bus must use weekly or monthly season fares to accommodate an average of at least 35 passengers per trip.

According to the media liaison manager of Putco, Lindokuhle Xulu, sadly, some of the shifts in their schedule were listed in the notice by GDRT and deemed to be unfeasible financially since they do not comply with the aforementioned condition. As such, these shifts are not authorised for ongoing use.

He said that following the City of Ekurhuleni’s decision to shut down bus services after 1994, Putco was approached by the municipality to continue offering essential transportation for commuters.

“The persisting demand for reliable public transportation, coupled with operational challenges leading to the municipality discontinuing its services, made it more feasible for Putco to take on this responsibility,” Xulu said.

Locals’ concern

Alberton residents were left in disbelief after learning that they will no longer be able to use the bus services to travel to work.

One of the Alberton residents, Lizelle Pretorius, said that what worries her and other commuters most is that the services offered by these busses are the only way they could save at least something from their incomes and keep their households running.

“With the current economic challenges and skyrocketing food and fuel prices, we saw a rise in commuter numbers joining the bus services where the numbers rose from under 100 to over 300 in just over 12 months only for this to happen,” she said.

The service users have drafted a petition stating that as these privately owned bus companies will no longer be offering their services they are urging the City of Ekurhuleni to help, by at least taking over.

“The safety of women is absolutely important. With regular bus routes, anyone can wait for the bus at its designated times and be assured of its arrival and drop off. Taxis are plentiful but sometimes unreliable,” Lizelle added.

City of Ekurhuleni’s response

The Alberton Record sent a query to the City of Ekurhuleni for a comment regarding this matter at hand.

According to the spokesperson of the city, Zweli Dlamini, they are providing their services to other parts of the city. However, with Alberton, they have never thought of it as they were already using other busses as their mode of transport.

Furthermore, Dlamini said that it was never part of the city’s plans to provide Alberton with the city’s busses but now that the province has taken this decision they will look at it.

“Our aim as CoE is to always ensure that we are bettering our services to our residents and ensure that they are always catered for. As the need has arisen, numbers in Alberton will determine if busses should be placed, but this is something that needs to be well discussed with the relevant stakeholders within the city. All-in-all it is now part of our plans,” Dlamini said.

Alberton ward councillors’ take

The Record has spoken to some of the region’s ward councillors.

The Ward 94 Clr Samantha Nair told the Record that as soon as she received the communique about the bus services shutting down, she made communication with suitable personnel to try and find a mutual understanding for the whole scenario.

She said that she even spoke with the companies but after they gave her statistics with the numbers of passengers per scheduled trip, which she shared with the Alberton Record she understood where the decision came from.

“Some of the shifts had only 10 people who were travelling from Alberton to Sandton. This was a cost to the companies as they had to ensure that they serviced the buses so they were safe to use and pay for other bills. However, I have communicated with Ekurhuleni to intervene in the situation.”

Ward 37 Clr Ivan Naidoo said that this will definitely have a negative impact on the people as it will affect them negatively because the busses were much more affordable and now they will have to use more money.

“This will negatively affect our locals’ jobs and could lead to some being terminated as taxis are not reliable. We have appealed with the MMC for Roads and Transport to aid in the situation and revisit the decision which was taken and we are hoping for a common and pleasant decision for everyone,” Naidoo said.

Putco’s concerns and sympathy

Xulu said that operationally, they have not had any major problems with moving passengers in the Alberton area. However a significant obstacle exists because many customers in the region chose cash fares for many reasons, including affordability.

Fewer people used weekly and monthly season tickets, and this has made the province conclude that there is less of a need for a bus transport service provider in the area.

“Per contractual obligations, bus operators are required to notify passengers of changes at least two weeks before the implementation date and Putco has done this. We empathise with all affected passengers and understand the challenges they may face in finding alternative means during these times,” he concluded.