Yesterday, 30 November I chose to not take my vehicle to town, but to use a Metrobus instead.
The buses stood in Ghandi Square, across our stop from 9:55am until 11am. That would not have been a problem, except that there had already been a two-hour delay.
Once I was on the bus, the driver argued with me about 10c. She couldn’t give me change of R9,90 because she wanted 10c. Another commuter gave me the 10c. And the commuter behind me, of course, was given R10,90 change.
Not only was 10c a problem – the fact that I am disabled, but don’t wear a sign saying so was a problem to her as well.
Throughout the whole trip, she complained about a shop steward who had signed a collective agreement without consulting with them.
She was extremely rude to passengers throughout the trip, especially if she had to stop for them. She hooted at other commuters unnecessarily, nearly causing two accidents!
Now, I was a City of Johannesburg employee, and often endured hearing about how obnoxious, rude and lazy my colleagues were, and I stood up for them many times.
As a normal Joe Soap these days, I can truly say I defended the wrong people, and ordinary people do not care about more money being thrown at government employees, or how many unions now run these entities.
Reduce their exorbitant salaries, stop giving them increases, make the performance bonuses exactly what they must be, and get on with service delivery!
