Johannesburg had its first glimpse of Metrobus’ answer to service improvement, the new fleet of eco-friendly buses, on Friday 24 July.
Metrobus has been the subject of severe criticism in the Roodepoort area for the past couple of months; a Metrobus was robbed and the driver wounded in a shooting in April and a vessel caught alight on Hendrik Potgieter Road earlier in July. The Record has also received many letters with regards to services rendered by the transport system over the last couple of months.
The first batch of 70 buses, of which 40 are new and 30 refurbished, were due to start operations on Monday 27 July withe their eco-friendly combustion systems. In a press statement the City of Johannesburg said the buses will progressively be converted to run on a mixture of compressed natural gas (CNG) and biogas (70 per cent) and diesel (30 per cent). New buses are also fitted with a fleet management device to provide real-time tracking and monitoring its fleet as well as the driver’s skills. The new fleet don a striking resemblance to Rea Vaya colours but will not use dedicated Rea Vaya lanes, it was said at the launch in Auckland Park.
Executive mayor Parks Tau at the launch on Friday said the new fleet is part of the utility’s new turnaround strategy. He was quoted saying, “We apologise and express regret for all the deaths and injuries due to Metrobus accidents.”
“We don’t want to be a service that counts fatalities, [rather] a service that improves passengers’ experience.”
In the foreseeable future Metrobus will roll out 20 new or refurbished buses a month, meaning 190 new buses will be on the road by middle 2016. A single new bus reportedly costs around R3 million and R52 million will be spent to refurbish old buses over the next financial year.
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Also read: Suspects open fire on Metrobus
Metrobus on the future safety of passengers
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