Metro Bus woes

It is common knowledge that Metro Bus is often prone to delays and no shows, gravely inconveniencing members of the public who rely on the buses as their only option for transport.

Astrid Guntenhoner, a single mother of three, has been using the Metro Bus service for two years.

“It’s completely ridiculous!” she said, explaining that sometimes she waits up to an hour for a bus to arrive.

Guntenhoner takes the bus through several suburbs from Westgate to Illovo along with numerous other passengers, who often pack the buses to full capacity during peak hours.

“Sometimes it is so full that people sit on the stairs and the floor,” she said, explaining that during the peak times between 4pm and 5pm there are supposed to be buses scheduled every 15 minutes, with a bus arriving every half hour between 5pm to 6pm, “but sometimes there is only [a total of] three buses that come between 4pm to 6pm”.

With overcrowding and extreme delays for many passengers, on occasion Guntenhoner leaves work at 4pm, but will only arrive home at 7pm.

“We have to take pictures to prove to our employers that we were late because of the bus […] they’ve spoken about getting new buses for the past two years, but they can’t even maintain the buses that they have now,” citing that in addition to tardiness buses often break down on route.

Metro Bus spokesperson Esther Dreyer acknowledged that currently Metro Bus does suffer a severe shortage of buses, and that trips operate late or do not operate at all due to the non-availability of buses.

Dreyer pointed out that Metro Bus is in the process of purchasing 350 biofuel ‘green buses’ and the tender process is in its final stages with the City of Joburg.

However, she could not provide further detail on a time frame of when the new buses will be in operation.

It costs about R572 a month for 44 trips on a Metro Bus route.