HOW do you think the municipal transport bus service should be run? That’s the question eThekwini Municipality is asking the public and stakeholders. All submissions from the public and stakeholders should reach the municipality by 11 July 2014.
At a meeting of council on 27 February, the city resolved to explore the possibility of providing the service through an external mechanism in terms of Section 76(b) of the Municipal Systems Act.
This resolution followed months of deliberations about the best management model for the bus service, with three options being presented.
The first option involved the City taking over the running of the service as a department, the second was for the establishment of an entity and the third was to continue with the privatisation of the service.
Option one did not find favour as it was felt it would place a financial burden on the city’s coffers and metro would lose the transport subsidey from provincial and national government which would require an addition R307-million outlay for the city. The municipality previously explored the privatisation model but found that it failed to achieve the desired objective.
The city took over ownership of the buses in 2008 and the operation has been managed by Tansnat. At present, the city has systems in place to ensure the service runs smoothly especially around the maintenance and repairs of vehicles.
The current month to month contractual arrangement with Tansnat will continue until the desired process has been finalised.
Comments or representations must be submitted to Noluthando Ndlovu, Public Transport Department, Ground Floor, 30 Archie Gumede (Old Fort) Place, Durban, 4000; Fax: (031) 305-5871;
E-mail: Noluthando.ndlovu@durban.gov.za
Any person who cannot write may visit Noluthando Ndlovu, during office hours, at Ground Floor, 30 Archie Gumede (Old Fort) Place, Durban where they will be assisted to transcribe the comments or representations.
