Dear GWIT (Putco),
As tax-paying citizens of Ekurhuleni and fare-paying passengers of GWIT bus services, who contract to Putco, we are extremely displeased with the level of service currently offered by our public bus service.
Although we do understand that the transportation infrastructure is complex and can present challenges, we do rely on the bus service for our daily commute to and from our places of study and work as GWIT (Putco) is the only public bus service available to the residents in the Ekurhuleni district, unlike our surrounding neighbours who have access to Rea Vaya, Metrobus and Gautrain.
Though we do have a few bus lines that are intended to provide convenient access to locations around town, namely Johannesburg CBD, Braamfontein, Randburg and Sandton, these would be far more effective if the buses ran on a dependable schedule and were better maintained.
We regularly experience late buses and on more than a few occasions they have not arrived at all to collect passengers who are then left stranded with no other alternative to get to and from work and school.
In order to improve this situation, we believe that streamlining the bus schedule to more accurately reflect when the buses arrive and depart would go a long way to resolve issues. Currently, we cannot access any network or online system that can depict when and where the busses travel, what the fares are and the details of the routes. It is extremely fruitless and frustrating to currently try to garner any information from Putco, whether telephonic or online via their website, as the service is either unavailable, provides insufficient information and travelling details or when attempting to call, the staff at Putco are blissfully unaware of how their service works or where to direct passengers to for information.
Some form of communication or a more interactive website would be greatly appreciated to convey issues with busses that prevent them from arriving on time or to advise passengers of delays.
Breakdowns are also a regular occurrence that has a hugely negative effect on passengers who are left stranded for hours either on the way to or from work/school.
We are often left waiting in the dark for hours until replacement busses arrive.
This, as you can see, is not a very desirable position to be put in due to lack of attention and dedication from our service provider.
Broken down busses present another problem where busses are loaded to capacity having to transfer passengers from broken down busses from other routes into an already full bus. This is not only unsafe but a violation of our rules of the road and puts the lives of every passenger and the driver at stake as an overloaded vehicle presents unnecessary travelling risks.
Bus interiors are filthy and ill-maintained, are unsafe and full of hazardous objects and obstructions that could cause injury to passengers or damage their personal possessions.
Regular maintenance of busses should be done.
We have a situation where state of the art cameras has been installed on all our busses, however, no consideration has been given to repairs of already broken busses or upgrading them to a roadworthy state so that they can actually reach their destinations. There seems to be little logic in installing these cameras when so much needs to be done to improve the general condition of the busses and this needs to be probed.
Busses are always breaking down and have so many issues but then we still have to contend with the terrible bus drivers who are very crude, drive recklessly, not abiding the rules and laws of the road, swearing at and cutting off other drivers, sometimes opening the door to get into a screaming match, being rude and arrogant, rushing passengers and so on.
Should there be any question about our issues and complaints, may we suggest that you attempt to ride to work on one of your own buses for an entire month; then you may see how frustrating it is.
We would greatly appreciate hearing your plans for improving the bus system and welcome you to come back to us, your fare-paying passengers, with a solution that will be mutually beneficial.
We thank you for taking the time to read our letter and await a response.
-GWIT Passengers
RECORD was unable to reach Putco for comment and the City of Ekurhuleni has not responded as yet.
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