“We don’t compromise on roadworthiness,” says GNT following complaints by commuters
A commuter who makes use of Great North Transport (GNT) buses says he fears for his safety and is tired of travelling "in damaged buses everyday"
POLOWKANE – The commuter complained to BONUS about the general state of the buses and says he fears for his safety, and is tired of travelling “in damaged buses everyday”. Maintenance is key and without this, the situation is not going to improve soon, he believes.
“The buses are dirty inside, the seats are not in place and I feel that generally, the buses are not roadworthy,” he said.
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He feels commuters fork out a lot of money for transport compared to what they earn, and that they deserve better services than the transport they currently receive.
“With the kind of jobs that we have, we don’t get large salaries and half of the money goes to monthly transport. I feel like our money is not put to good use and we would like to know why,” he added.
GNT Spokesperson, Patrick Monkoe responded by saying there might be a few buses of which the internal structure is not sound, and that it would cost the company a lot if they had to repair the buses if and when commuters feel it’s time.
“We are aware that some of the buses are a bit old, but we don’t compromise on roadworthiness. We cannot let our drivers transport commuters in unroadworthy vehicles. It’s illegal and not safe.”
He said the buses are maintained regularly to ensure roadworthiness. Monkoe explains that the demand for transport is high in a large city such as Polokwane.
“We have decided to bring 80-seater GNT buses, that were in Mokopane and transported them to Polokwane, and took the buses that were this side to Mokopane. We noticed that Mokopane has fewer commuters so we figured we should swap some of the small buses with the bigger buses,” Monkoe added.
He adds that GNT is trying by all means to get to a stage where they have a sufficient number of buses. “Sometimes what we consider as ‘good’ might not suit other people, hence is why they sometimes complain. I want to reiterate that we aim for good services every day. We know that our commuters don’t really earn a lot, but we have to render a service and this includes maintenance,” he said.
Monkoe concludes that commuters have the right to pass complaints to their specific Passenger Forums within their areas.
“The matter will then be passed on to our Head Office where we will handle and resolve the matters promptly and accordingly. So we urge everyone to visit or call their forums to lay any complaint regarding our buses, and we’ll look into it,” he concluded.
Matome Moremi, Department of Transport Spokesperson tells BONUS that it will be a concern to their department for any bus company that Department of Transport subsidises to be non-compliant in terms of roadworthiness. “It remains the responsibility of GNT to service their vehicles if there’s any fault with the buses,” he said.
