Arriving late according to the scheduled timetable has become the norm for state-owned Mayibuye Transport Corporation buses, according to commuters who use the buses daily.
The company and the provincial transport department admitted there had been problems, but declined to say what these were.
In a letter to the Daily Dispatch Zola Puzi, a commuter, vented his frustration about the delays caused by the parastatal over the past month.
“The commuters in the bus rank of King William’s Town, mostly government workers, are in their third week now of complaining about the poor service Mayibuye has been giving them,” Puzi said.
“Almost every day they wait at the bus rank for hours for buses to take them to work.
“It has been an unbearable and frustrating situation for workers to endure the scorching sun at the bus rank instead of enjoying the cooler air-conditioning at their offices at work.
“Early in the morning there is no sign of buses. The one or two that are visible would be out of diesel.
“Workers have bought prepaid cards from the company costing hundreds of rands, but they end up using more money on unreliable transport to get to work as an alternative.”
Mayibuye spokeswoman Bongiwe Solwandle confirmed the corporation was experiencing some problems.
“The nature of the challenge is a very internal matter, but it has since been resolved.
“The Mayibuye Transport Corporation has been rendering safe, reliable and affordable service to its customers for many years in the past and yet now it is being judged as incompetent based on a few weeks in which it faced a particular challenge,” Solwandle said.
“Even the customers are able to state the period in which they have been experiencing unusual service.
“During this period, the company has been informing its customers about the challenge faced, and that it was a short-term challenge the entity was dealing with urgently.”
Solwandle said the corporation valued its customers and apologised for the period where it had problems.
“We promise our customers that from now going forward, the challenge has been sorted out,” she said.
Transport spokeswoman Khuselwa Rantjie said they were aware of the problems and were extending extra support for the bus company.
“As the government we have engaged all the other relevant stakeholders in a bid to help the entity through the challenges they are currently going through,” she said.
“We want to apologise to the commuters for any of the inconvenience caused.” — mbalit@dispatch.co.za
Mystery bus ‘challenge’
The company and the provincial transport department admitted there had been problems, but declined to say what these were.
In a letter to the Daily Dispatch Zola Puzi, a commuter, vented his frustration about the delays caused by the parastatal over the past month.
“The commuters in the bus rank of King William’s Town, mostly government workers, are in their third week now of complaining about the poor service Mayibuye has been giving them,” Puzi said.
“Almost every day they wait at the bus rank for hours for buses to take them to work.
“It has been an unbearable and frustrating situation for workers to endure the scorching sun at the bus rank instead of enjoying the cooler air-conditioning at their offices at work.
“Early in the morning there is no sign of buses. The one or two that are visible would be out of diesel.
“Workers have bought prepaid cards from the company costing hundreds of rands, but they end up using more money on unreliable transport to get to work as an alternative.”
Mayibuye spokeswoman Bongiwe Solwandle confirmed the corporation was experiencing some problems.
“The nature of the challenge is a very internal matter, but it has since been resolved.
“The Mayibuye Transport Corporation has been rendering safe, reliable and affordable service to its customers for many years in the past and yet now it is being judged as incompetent based on a few weeks in which it faced a particular challenge,” Solwandle said.
“Even the customers are able to state the period in which they have been experiencing unusual service.
“During this period, the company has been informing its customers about the challenge faced, and that it was a short-term challenge the entity was dealing with urgently.”
Solwandle said the corporation valued its customers and apologised for the period where it had problems.
“We promise our customers that from now going forward, the challenge has been sorted out,” she said.
Transport spokeswoman Khuselwa Rantjie said they were aware of the problems and were extending extra support for the bus company.
“As the government we have engaged all the other relevant stakeholders in a bid to help the entity through the challenges they are currently going through,” she said.
“We want to apologise to the commuters for any of the inconvenience caused.” — mbalit@dispatch.co.za
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