A Kensington resident has lashed out at Metrorail following a recent train trip which he describes as “pathetic service”.
According to Kevin Alexander, a community activist, when he made his way to Century City railway station at 07:00 on Monday 6 March, he was met with poor service from the word go.
“I arrived at the station and the ticket office could not sell me a ticket due to their ticket machines being off or faulty and I was told to purchase a ticket at my destination in Cape Town. They were also unable to tell me what time the next train would be.”
Alexander said none of the information boards at the station are working.
“We just waited and eventually boarded the train at 07:30 to Cape Town. At Cape Town Station the ticket inspector delayed us further because he was waiting for his colleague to bring him a ticket machine.”
Alexander says the trip back home later that evening was an even “bigger nightmare”.
“The information desk could not tell me the train times and said I must wait for announcements to be made. I asked the woman at the information desk on which platform I can get the train and she told me I can wait anywhere. There were many other commuters, they were also confused and had no idea what was going on, so we just waited for the announcement to be made.
“Eventually the train arrived and the first thing I noticed was that the train was in bad shape. The door handles were broken off.
“When the train stopped at the Century City station we got up and tried to open the doors, but the doors could not open. We ran to the next carriage. Then the train pulled away. So, we could not get off.”
He explains that the train eventually stopped at Monte Vista station.
“At Monte Vista Station we waited for 45 minutes for another train back to Century City. Once again, no announcements at all.”
Alexander appeals to the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) to fix its services.
“Prasa desperately needs to do something about their service, especially at Cape Town Station. The service is totally pathetic. No one can give you information, the information boards aren’t working. They need to revive the train system so that we have reliable public rail transport, it gives us another option instead of the buses and the taxis.”
Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Sindisiwe Chikunga as the new transport minister.
This appointment has renewed the City’s call to devolve the passenger rail “for the City of Cape Town to run”.
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says: “President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised “solid progress within a year”, and we back this 100% when it comes to devolving passenger rail for the City of Cape Town to run. Passenger rail has collapsed in Cape Town and is now servicing just 2% of commuters daily when it should be the backbone of an affordable, reliable, and safe transport system.”
Hill-Lewis has vowed to ask Chikunga to fast-track rail devolution as a top priority.
“Capetonians need to know where the new transport minister stands on the delay in national government’s devolution strategy with no definite deadline, and recent anti-devolution statements by the ANC,” concludes Hill-Lewis.
Zinobulali Mihi, the spokesperson for Prasa, says the claim that their ticket machines were not working “is not true”.
“I have received the records of our ticket sales information (TSDB) that the ticket selling machines were operational at both stations. Our ticket offices have timetables displayed at the ticket windows and information desks for our customers.”
Mihi admits that their Electronic Information Boards are faulty at Century City station, and says: “As an alternative option, we display train timetables at the ticket office windows and the information desks. Also, audible announcements are constantly made at the station.”
Mihi encourages commuters to follow their social media platforms for information.
“Announcements are constantly made at the station. There are commuter/customer WhatsApp groups where train service information is shared by customers and Metrorail WC as well for all the lines. We also have social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter), where we share service relation information.”
