Benny Makgoga, City of Joburg director of service promotions said, “The city notifies residents and passengers that there will be no services of Rea Vaya tomorrow, 11 February. The bus operating company, Piotrans has instituted disciplinary proceedings against the bus drivers who decided to go on work stoppage last week on 2 February.”
Makgoga said the passengers who have loaded money into their smartcards are advised to use them as debit cards to make purchases. “The city apologises for the inconvenience caused by the current situation,” Makgoba said.
Meanwhile Dumisani Mntambo, the city’s general manager for strategy and transformation can be contacted on 011 988 6558 for information on how the bus operating company, Piotrans is planning to get a return to services. For information on the Rea Vaya services’ smartcards that have been loaded with money for travel, Makgoga, can be contacted on 011 870 4612.
Meanwhile earlier in the week, Mntambo had announced that Piotrans, the bus operating company for the Rea Vaya BRT system, announced that it had instigated disciplinary proceedings against the majority of its bus drivers who absconded from work.
Mntambo said this followed the abrupt stoppage of bus services by bus drivers when the bus company received, with shock, information that its drivers had abandoned buses by leaving them unattended in the middle of the Joburg CBD.
“Most of the buses were left with keys inside them and others were tempered with. This posed a huge risk to the company’s assets. Formal inquiries with the union representing the concerned workers, South African Municipal Workers Union, have not been answered,” Mntambo said.
He said prior to the actions of the drivers, no dispute between the company and the drivers was formally logged.
“It was a shock to us that workers took such actions without raising their grievances with us,” said Mntambo. He said the company immediately issued all drivers with instructions to return back to work but many of them did not return.
Mntambo said as a result, the board of Piotrans authorised the company to institute disciplinary proceedings against the affected staff and to look for measures to ensure that such actions did not repeat in the future.
Read our previous stories,
UPDATE: Striking bus drivers face DC
City council apologises for Rea Vaya strike
Rea Vaya drivers on illegal strike
