Durban – Durban residents, thousands of whom rely on the City’s bus service to travel to work and school have been informed there would be a “limited service”, starting this week.
The warning was made by the eThekwini Municipality in a notice and press release that did not say for how long the limited service will be in place and the reason behind it.
However, beleaguered eThekwini bus service operator, Tansnat said eThekwini municipality has not provided enough buses for it to provide an efficient service.
Chief operating officer of Tansnat, Vickesh Maharaj, said they had a lease agreement that said eThekwini Municipality was supposed to supply it with 450 buses daily, but was not being honoured.
“There has been a non-supply of buses for some time and the situation has deteriorated since December 2019. Since June 2020, the non - supply of buses have increased to untenable levels. In some instances, Tansnat is provided with less than 50% of the bus fleet. Due to the non - supply of buses by city fleet, trips have not operated in Ntuzuma, Umlazi and Rossburg and this has unfairly resulted in Tansnat being labelled as an unfit operator. With regards to the reason for the non- supply of buses and as to when the full complement of services will resume, we are awaiting feedback from city fleet,” he said.
In response, eThekwini Municipality spokesperson, Msawakhe Mayisela said: “There are minor challenges that we are attending to. And we are working tirelessly to return the situation to normalcy. And we are grateful that our processes to set up an entity to operate these buses are moving with speed. We appeal to the public to bear with us as there is a light at the end of a tunnel.”
Daily News