Johannesburg - The MMC for roads and transport in the City of Joburg, Kenny Kunene, advised passengers who depend on the Rea Vaya bus services for transportation to seek alternative modes of getting around.
On Monday, passengers were left stranded at Rea Vaya stations after bus drivers went on a wildcat strike. Buses at the Rea Vaya depot in Dobsonville, Soweto, were also blocked from leaving.
“As it stands, there are no Rea Vaya buses on the road. We ask passengers to use Metro Bus and other modes of transport. I know that the routes are different. We ask that they please bear with us,” he said.
Kunene said there had been problems with payments to Piotrans, which is managing the Rea Vaya bus services. He blamed municipal officials for dragging their feet with the payments, which resulted in a labour dispute. There were also issues with the Rea Vaya buses not being supplied with diesel because of payment issues.
“The drivers are within their rights to strike. There were issues with the tax certificate for Piotrans, but that was fixed. The payments were supposed to be made last week, but they were not, and there was a fire at the metro centre on Friday that affected the IT systems. There was no communication with the drivers and their shop stewards as to what happened,” Kunene said.
Kunene spent much of Monday morning negotiating with the shop stewards and representatives of Piotrans. He said he expected the payments to be fast-tracked but could not guarantee when the buses would be back on the roads.
“I was able to persuade the City to make these payments timeously. I have an agreement with the drivers that as soon as the money gets into the Piotrans account, they will then go back to work. It is Piotrans that is supposed to pay them their salaries,” he said.
Kunene said he would be complaining to the mayoral committee in the City of Joburg about the conduct of officials who dragged their feet in making payments to Piotrans.
There were a number of problems plaguing Piotrans, including issues around an expired contract with the City of Joburg.
The Star understands a tender process was under way for a new company to take over the Rea Vaya bus services.
The Star