By Nathalie Rosa Bucher
People with disabilities are accusing the Dial-A-Ride bus service of poor service.
"I have to make a booking 20 days in advance if I want to get anywhere," said Anthony George, who has a disability and uses the Dial-A-Ride bus service provided by the City of Cape Town and Ikapa.
Demand far exceeds supply and Ikapa says bookings are subject to availability. The service makes no provision for short-term or emergency transportation needs.
"This causes a lot of frustration as short-term appointments have to be postponed and even cancelled," said Peter Speelman of Disabled People of South Africa, who uses a wheelchair.
When Dial-A-Ride started five years ago, the City of Cape Town provided 17 buses to Ikapa to cater for 500 physically disabled commuters from Mitchell's Plain and Khayelitsha who work in Cape Town, said Ikapa bus company manager Mohammed Fortune.
Since then, the number of people registered for the service had grown to 5 000 from across the peninsula who needed transport to hospitals and medical centres and to collect social grants.
Although the number of registered users had increased, the number of buses had not.
Each Dial-A-Ride bus was clocking up 100 000km a year and they had to be serviced and repaired frequently. Most of the time, at least one was being repaired.
The costs of repairs were covered by Ikapa, which was told that the increase in new users not included in the original mandate was acceptable as they would be transported in off-peak hours.
Rhoda Abrahams of the Disabled Children's Action Group, whose daughter uses a wheelchair, relies on the service to get her child to school.
"The bus is often late," she says. "I've had to ask for special concessions from her school, which makes integration with able-bodied children more difficult."
To book, users had to put up with Dial-a-Ride's toll-free number being almost permanently engaged. They often had to wait 10 minutes for an operator to take their call, as only two lines were provided by the municipality.
Ikapa says they desperately need more lines and staff.
Given that the contract was nearing an end, it was uncertain if it would be renewed and expanded to address the present problems.
The city did not respond to queries.