More Gautrain routes open

[rpm]

Ten of the 23 Gautrain bus routes are operational, the Bombela Concession company said on Saturday.

Spokeswoman Kelebogile Machaka said the Sandton to Midrand and Roseville to Johannesburg routes had been opened on Tuesday.

"We had an illegal strike at the beginning of February and about 300 bus drivers were dismissed and we had to close some of our routes. We are now incrementally opening routes as we train and employ bus drivers," she said.

 

[TJ99]

Ten of the 23 Gautrain bus routes are operational, the Bombela Concession company said on Saturday.

Strange, I thought they were never open on Saturdays or Sundays. That's the main reason I find the Gautrain system useless.. can't use it to go anywhere in the weekends.

 

[TheGuy]

Strange, I thought they were never open on Saturdays or Sundays. That's the main reason I find the Gautrain system useless.. can't use it to go anywhere in the weekends.

Give it time this system is still very young

 

[Nokkie]

+1

Give it time this system is still very young

New York has an impressive train system, It will take South Africa a couple of decades before we are on that kind of level.

 

[TJ99]

+1

New York has an impressive train system, It will take South Africa a couple of decades before we are on that kind of level.

Not talking about the trains. That's a whole different story. The busses. they don't work on weekends.

BTW: Comparing any part of SA to New York is a bit silly... We will never be on "that level"...

 

[boramk]

Not talking about the trains. That's a whole different story. The busses. they don't work on weekends.

BTW: Comparing any part of SA to New York is a bit silly... We will never be on "that level"...

I agree, but only because we don't have 8 million people living on a small island not because we are not capable of it.

 

[skimread]

They need to cheapen prices during off peak periods seriously. The pricing is so inflexible.

In my area I constantly see empty buses in the middle of the day.

They could learn something from the hospitality industry regarding occupancy.

 

[j4ck455]

Give it time this system is still very young

Yes, there has never been a bus transport system anywhere in South Africa before the Gautrain buses, it must be incredibly mind boggling for Bombela and Mega Express to get their heads around this new transport concept and the logistics of running buses must be far worse than running trains.

 

[czc]

Yes, there has never been a bus transport system anywhere in South Africa before the Gautrain buses, it must be incredibly mind boggling for Bombela and Mega Express to get their heads around this new transport concept and the logistics of running buses must be far worse than running trains.

You've never used Metrobus?

 

[j4ck455]

You've never used Metrobus?

Metrobus, relevance? This discussion is about Gaubus services, which I most certainly have used for some time, and let me tell you the Gautrain bus services suck donkey bollocks as I detailed in a thread here just a few days ago.

 

[Hemi300c]

Yes, there has never been a bus transport system anywhere in South Africa before the Gautrain buses, it must be incredibly mind boggling for Bombela and Mega Express to get their heads around this new transport concept and the logistics of running buses must be far worse than running trains.

Buzzz wrong!! there was a very good service in place and it was used very well by people but the crime, type of passenger, and goverment eventually ensured it wasn't safe or viable.

 

[Polymathic]

I agree, but only because we don't have 8 million people living on a small island not because we are not capable of it.

The main problem with Jo'burg is that everything is spread so far apart that makes public transport very inefficient when compared to cities elsewhere in the world of similar population

 

[j4ck455]

Buzzz wrong!! there was a very good service in place and it was used very well by people but the crime, type of passenger, and goverment eventually ensured it wasn't safe or viable.

If you read that post of mine again (the post you quoted), very carefully, and your name is not Sheldon Cooper, you should be able to detect just a hint of sarcasm.

Obviously there have been many bus companies prior to the Gautrain buses, my point was that bus transport is not rocket science and is not new to South Africa, and yet Gautrain / Bombela / Mega Express seem incapable of employing bus drivers that are qualified for the job and that actually want to work. As a commuter, I don't care what the bus drivers' problems are, yet they have delighted in making their problems my problems.

 

[hellfire]

If you read that post of mine again (the post you quoted), very carefully, and your name is not Sheldon Cooper, you should be able to detect just a hint of sarcasm.

Obviously there have been many bus companies prior to the Gautrain buses, my point was that bus transport is not rocket science and is not new to South Africa, and yet Gautrain / Bombela / Mega Express seem incapable of employing bus drivers that are qualified for the job and that actually want to work. As a commuter, I don't care what the bus drivers' problems are, yet they have delighted in making their problems my problems.

Bazinga

 

[Hemi300c]

If you read that post of mine again (the post you quoted), very carefully, and your name is not Sheldon Cooper, you should be able to detect just a hint of sarcasm.

Obviously there have been many bus companies prior to the Gautrain buses, my point was that bus transport is not rocket science and is not new to South Africa, and yet Gautrain / Bombela / Mega Express seem incapable of employing bus drivers that are qualified for the job and that actually want to work. As a commuter, I don't care what the bus drivers' problems are, yet they have delighted in making their problems my problems.

Oops sorry! Did read again ;-)

THE BOMBELA Concession Company remained on high alert last night after one of its buses was shot at it in Midrand yesterday afternoon in “an act of intimidation”.

Spokeswoman Kelebogile Machaka said the company wasn’t ruling out the possibility that yesterday’s shooting was related to the recent illegal bus drivers’ strike over transport allowances, in which 300 drivers were fired. “We certainly won’t rule out that this may be related to the strike,” she remarked.

At about 2pm yesterday, a Gautrain bus driver on a route in Midrand stopped for someone whom he believed was a passenger, but the man fired a shot in the direction of the bus and fled. “Only the driver and two Gautrain security guards were on board. Fortunately they weren’t harmed and they have since had trauma counselling,” she said.

Police are searching for the gunman.

Last month, Gautrain drivers embarked on an illegal strike because they wanted the Gautrain bus operating company, Megaexpress, to provide them with transport to and from work every day.

But the company responded by firing the drivers. Some bus routes remain closed. “Even before the strike started, we increased security on our buses. We will remain on high alert and as far as security is concerned, of course we will remain vigilant,” Machaka added. In a similar incident last week, three men boarded a Gautrain bus en route to Sandton, pretending to be passengers, and intimidated the driver at gunpoint.

Pretoria News.