Cape Town - Cosatu in the Western Cape has expressed its disappointment to the management of the Golden Arrow Bus Services (Gabs) for allegedly not looking after their commuters when they board their buses.
This after commuters were robbed by four armed men on a Gabs bus travelling from Cape Town to Steenberg station last week.
A week before that incident, three armed men boarded a bus from Cape Town to Mitchells Plain and held up the driver and passengers, before alighting in Samora Machel – the route which was the target of criminals using the same modus operandi.
Cosatu provincial secretary Malvern de Bruyn, said they met with the Gabs management yesterday.
“The fact that nothing has been done to assist those commuters who were traumatised because of the muggings due to crimes happening in their buses is disappointing,” he said.
De Bruyn said they gave 10 proposals to Gabs as a possible solution to the crisis, and called for the company to give details on their safety plan.
Gabs spokesperson Bronwen Dyke-Beyer, said the company was committed to playing whatever role they could in ensuring their drivers and passengers were able to travel safely.
"We have increasingly been dedicating time and resources to the issue and are hopeful that this will make a difference, and we have seconded a senior manager to a newly created portfolio which will deal only with safety on buses in terms of both our response and co-ordinating a response from the police and other law enforcement," said Dyke-Beyer.
She said they were awaiting the launch of the dedicated bus enforcement unit which was a partnership between Gabs, the City and the Province.
"We would have liked for this unit to be in place as of last year, but there is unfortunately red tape associated with projects such as these. We are pushing from our side to fast-track roll-out," she said.
Dyke-Beyer said they were investigating a number of interventions but have to be sure that anything they do improves rather than exacerbates the situation.
"As a private company, we do not have the expertise that the police and law enforcement have when it comes to combating crime and we are very conscious of the complexity of the issue. If there was a simple solution from our side, it would have been implemented already."
Cape Argus