Commuters stranded after bus drivers strike

Commuters on all bus routes in Pretoria would suffer because of a strike by drivers of the Tshwane Bus Service (TBS) since Monday, Tshwane metro spokesman Selby Bokaba said this week.

”The strike started with 63 disgruntled bus drivers. Some of these have returned back to work, but the most of them are still on strike. At this stage, we have no indication of how long the bus drivers intend to strike. We are currently in discussion with our human relations department and will act on the advice they give us. In the meanwhile we are investigating ways to accommodate stranded commuters,’’ Bokaba said.

”With regard to disciplinary action, the management of the City will apply the no-work no-pay rule against the 63 employees who downed tools this morning. The striking employees are affiliated to labour union SAMWU.”

He said there was limited service in the provision of public transport and advised bus commuters to make use of alternative transport. Acting City Manager Ms Lindiwe Kwele apologised to commuters for the inconvenience.

“We would like to reassure the commuters that management at Tshwane Bus Service is dealing with the situation and taking necessary action against those that are involved in this unprotected strike”, Kwele said.

Management at TBS was surprised upon discovering that 63 employees had decided to down tools without prior warning or notice. The striking employees are demanding the introduction of the Automated Fare Collection system with immediate effect.

Management found this demand strange as the City of Tshwane has already appointed a service provider on a 12-year contract to manage the

Automated Fare Collection system on both the Tshwane Rapid Transport (A Re Yeng) and Tshwane Bus Service — with the go-live date scheduled for January 2015.

“The striking employees didn’t give us any indication that they were going to down tools nor did they follow procedure when embarking on a strike. This type of behaviour is unacceptable. We can’t allow a few people to embark on action that impacts negatively on the city’s bus commuters”, Kwele said.

Most affected by the strike were commuters from townships around Pretoria who relied heavily on public transport to their work and back. To accommodate such commuters, the Tshwane metro last year made extra buses available to cater for commuters from Diepkloof to the city centre.

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