A fresh orange paint job does little to hide the 15-year-old bus’s age. Its engine growls into gear as it approaches the inspection point. The tyres are bald and oil pours onto the floor from the drive shaft.
The headlights are submerged in murky-brown rain water. And the brake pads are worn down to their metal essence.
“Park over there, please,” said the public transport inspector.
Joburg’s public buses were put through their paces by the traffic police yesterday as they carried out full inspections. Seventy-three vehicles were tested but just 30 passed.
“The rest are off the road,” said national traffic police spokesman David Tembe. “Traffic officers can’t test the brakes on the roadside.
“That’s why we bring them in here,” said Tembe. “It’s just a coincidence that there was an accident yesterday.”
On Tuesday, the brakes of a bus failed in Dobsonville and two people were killed when it ploughed into their house. Tembe said oil leaks and brake defects were the most common major issues.
He also said the rear lights on most buses were faulty, making them difficult to see at night.
“We can let wiper-blade problems go with a fine, but oil leaks and brake failures are unforgivable,” he said. “This was already planned for the Easter period, not because of the accident yesterday,” said traffic policeman Klaas Aphane.
“Over the Easter period more than 5000 buses full of worshippers will travel to Moria. We must test them,” he said.
The inspectors followed a 50-point checklist, looking at everything from hooters to hinges, and most vehicles failed the Millitron brake force test.
“We don’t want to inconvenience passengers. That’s why we collect the buses at the depot when drivers are on their rest period,” said Aphane.
A driver, who wished to remain anonymous, disagreed. “These are true lies. I was driving on Louis Botha Avenue and had a full load of passengers when they stopped me at the robot and asked everyone to get out.”
He also said the drivers were not responsible for the defects on their vehicles and that it was the companies’ responsibility to repair the buses.
From Metrobus and Putco to the long-distance yellow SA Roadlink buses, no company was exempt from inspection. -The Star