End of the road for some Putco routes
|Published
510 09-10-14 A commuter had just been dropped off by a taxi in Dobsonville, Soweto waiting to jump over the street, then came a speeding Putco bus and blew dust on her. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla 510 09-10-14 A commuter had just been dropped off by a taxi in Dobsonville, Soweto waiting to jump over the street, then came a speeding Putco bus and blew dust on her. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla
Johannesburg - Some bus commuters in Gauteng relying on Putco will use the bus service for the last time today as the company stops operating some of its routes.
Putco will no longer transport commuters in Mamelodi, Meyerton, Katlehong, Vosloorus and Thokoza.
The company announced in February that it had given the Gauteng Transport Department notice that it would not be renewing its operating licences in these areas when they expired in March. Putco and the department agreed that the bus company would continue operations for a few months.
When the company initially announced that it would pull out of the areas, managing director Franco Pisapia said the routes were not financially viable.
The company also said it wanted to enhance bus availability and service reliability by redeploying buses and resources to other, more viable areas. By stopping operations on some major routes, the company frees up 180 buses.
Putco said it had been trying to resolve issues around subsidies with the department for the past three years.
“Since 2009, the annual increases in the subsidy allocation for bus contracts has been consistently lower than the increases in the major cost items of bus operators, such as fuel, labour and maintenance,” said Pisapia.
“For example, the increase in bus subsidies from the public transport operations grant for 2015/16 is only 2.2 percent, while the cost increases in labour, fuel and maintenance in the bus sector have consistently been above 9 percent.
“This has eroded profit margins and pushed bus contracts into financial losses. It has placed financial strain on the company and is impacting negatively on Putco’s operations and services in other areas.”
The Putco bus contracts were awarded between 1996 and 2000, and were initially for only five years. The contracts expired more than 10 years ago and Putco was now operating on a month-to-month basis, and more recently a yearly basis.
Pisapia said: “We would like to thank all bus commuters in Mamelodi, Meyerton and Kathorus for their support over that past 19 years. We are confident that the Gauteng Transport Department has prioritised a seamless change of bus operators to ensure minimum disruption as of July 1.”
The department assured commuters they would not be left stranded tomorrow. Spokeswoman Octavia Mamabolo said Autopax, a subsidiary of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, would take over the Putco operations.
Meanwhile, the City of Joburg has signed a 12-year agreement with a second Rea Vaya operator, Ditsamaiso, after two years of negotiations.
Ditsamaiso is expected to take over from the temporary operator from August 1 on the phase 1B routes.
tebogo.monama@inl.co.za
The Star