Bus strike has disastrous consequences for stranded commuters

After the month-long national strike, bus drivers are back on the roads after their unions settled to an agreement of a nine per cent wage increase for 2018, and eight per cent for 2019.

The strike, which is said to be one of the longest ones, had more than 17 000 drivers off the road with the support of the five unions which are; the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, the Transport and Allied Workers Union of South Africa, the Transport and Omnibus Workers Union, the National Union of Mineworkers of South Africa and the Tirisano Transport and Services Workers Union.

While the drivers were on strike, commuters, who used bus services such as Rea Vaya, Putco, the Gautrain, and Megabus Gauteng were all affected.

Ashne Billings, who uses the Putco bus service, spoke about the challenges she faced during the strike. “Firstly, my budget had to be adjusted because, instead of paying R12 for a bus from work, I now had to pay R5 from work to the taxi rank and then an additional R12 to go home. It doesn’t seem like a lot of money now, but when a person budgets, the slightest change affects you,” said Billings.

Rea Vaya is now operating a full service

We had some challenges in the morning as bus drivers were coming back, we apologise for the inconvenience.^BM

— Rea Vaya Bus Transit (@ReaVayaBus) May 15, 2018

She paid R24 a day by bus and R35 by taxi each day. The second challenge that she had to deal with, was the walk to the taxi stops. She said that it was quite a distance for her to catch a taxi or to get to the taxi stops and it was exhausting. With no buses, the queues for the taxis were very long at the ranks.

“I’d wait for thirty minutes for a taxi down to the Bree Street taxi rank and once I got there, I had to wait another thirty minutes or so. I’d leave work at 5.30 pm and would get home at 7.30 pm”

“It’s just ridiculous. On Friday my friend and I got to the taxi rank and the line wound up the stairs, which is something that does not happen. We realised that we were going to get home too late, so we took a local taxi to the MTN taxi rank and there we got a taxi,” said Billings.

She added that the area was also not safe and that it felt unsafe to go to unfamiliar taxi ranks. She also stressed about walking home at night once the taxi dropped her off as the area was dark and not safe for her to be walking without an escort.

She added, “We get off at the last stop so there is a lot that could have happened between the stops. The bus strike really caused havoc. My whole schedule had to change, I’d leave home earlier than usual but then still get to work late. I had to change my work shifts as well, because it got to the point of me always calling the boss to say that I’m going to be late.”

Rea Vaya bus service is back, don’t get stranded, check your card balance at any Rea Vaya station for your convenience. ^CL

— Rea Vaya Bus Transit (@ReaVayaBus) May 15, 2018

She thought if she changed her shift she would get to work bit earlier and then leave early to avoid the long queues but she still found herself in those queues. In conclusion of the interview Billings expressed that she really missed the buses because the taxis were really an inconvenience to her and her job.