Durban -
Four years after being instructed to move its buses from a depot in Umhlanga Ridge, eThekwini’s second-largest bus operator, the Metro Group of companies, undertook in the Pietermaritzburg High Court to do so before February 28.
The operator runs the KZT Country Cruiser, the Metro Bus, Combined Transport, KZT Bus and Ngotshana Bus services as well as Masijabule Transport.
The general manager of the Metro Group, Vickesh Maharaj, said in court papers that they operated 175 buses which entered and left the Durban city centre daily - in the form of subsidised public transport.
In 2010, the companies were instructed by the municipality to vacate the bus holding area in Umhlanga Ridge by the end of October, but did not.
Maharaj said if they complied, the buses would be forced to travel during “down times” to the depot in Phoenix, at an additional cost of more than R500 000 a month.
The companies had asked the court to order the municipality to provide them with adequate depots in the city centre, in Pinetown or elsewhere in Umhlanga.
Without such facilities, Maharaj said, they would be forced to terminate their subsidised public transport.
“This would impact negatively on ratepayers who are traditionally low income and industrial workers who rely on our buses between 4.30am and 8am and 2.30pm to 6pm.”
The municipality “is in effect deriving a benefit from the public bus transport provided by the applicants’ companies”.
He said the buses had been parking in Umhlanga from 2001 and the holding areas there had resulted in massive fuel savings.
Maharaj added that the issue had been raised with the relevant stakeholders, but nothing had been done.
The municipality’s attitude was that it was obliged to provide depots to Durban Transport buses, its privatised bus service providers and not to any other public bus operator
“This results in anti-competitive behaviour.”
Durban Transport buses had a holding area for their sole use at the Alice Street depot, which meant its transport expenses were much less than those faced by the companies he represented.
Erik Moller, deputy head of public transport at the municipality, said in court papers that the companies’ contracts with the Department of Transport contained no provision obliging the municipality, department or minister of transport to provide holding areas.
A clause in the contract obliges the companies to make their own arrangements for depots and the servicing, maintenance and parking of vehicles to be used for the contract.
The case was meant to be argued on Monday, but after extensive talks a settlement agreement was reached.
Costs were reserved.
The Mercury