In response to Tanya’s letter in the Roodepoort Record of 9 December, about the rudeness of Metrobus drivers, Metrobus management will shield and defend their aggressive and incompetent drivers at all costs, whilst many Metrobus commuters literally fear for their lives if they say anything against Metrobus. I have been told this by several people.
A physically disabled person standing in a Metrobus is a danger to everyone. Their walking aids, of whatever type, can speedily become lethal weapons should the driver brake suddenly, flying about, striking people, possibly even killing the driver and causing a major accident. The drivers do not care. The concept of a bus stop is foreign to many Metrobus employees, as are the concepts of prescribed times and routes.
These are all matters which have been repeatedly raised with Metrobus.
They talk about our world class city? Addis Ababa has far better and more reliable public transport than we do, so I am told. I can believe it. It would not take much to have something better than what we have – peak hour service in the major areas and intermittent service during the day on certain routes. If you are lucky.
Remember, all services can be suspended without notice for several hours in certain areas for a staff meeting or union meeting.
We can hope the new MEC Transport deals with these issues. After the Parktown tragedy all sorts of promises were made, but whatever may have been done has not improved driver behaviour – you still get, like the old movie, the good, the bad and the ugly.
