A group of commuters from Kensington and Factreton says they are forced to make alternative transport arrangements after Golden Arrow Bus Services (Gabs) allegedly cancelled some of its services in the area.
According to them, this was done without prior notice. The group claims Gabs recently cancelled some of its buses from Kensington to Cape Town.
Reyhana Daniels from Kensington says she commutes from Monday to Friday and usually takes the 06:50 bus. She claims she was left stranded on Friday 1 April when the bus didn’t pitch up.
“I decided I will take an earlier bus and waited at the bus stop from 06:20 until 06:50, but there was no bus. I had to make alternative arrangements to get to work. On Tuesday (5 April) I waited for the 15:20 bus. I stood there until 16:00, there was no bus. One of the commuters decided to ask the conductor and only then did he tell us all the buses have been cancelled and the last bus out of town was at midday.”
She says they were informed that the next bus would be at 17:40.
“The conductor told us that he has about five pages containing the names of people who complained, and he said he will hand in the names to the Gabs offices to tell them that there is definitely a need for these buses in the afternoon.”
Daniels says they were not informed about the cancelled services.
“There was no communication. I sent an email to Gabs, and I was told that it was a decision taken by management because there are too few people on the buses, which I feel is not the case. There is a need for these buses in the area because the taxis aren’t very safe, especially for females or school kids. It’s just convenient to have the buses around.”
Commuter Deslin Abrahams says she used to take the 16:20 bus from Cape Town to Factreton. She says since the start of this month she is forced to travel by a taxi.
“I had to take the taxi now for two days and the taxi rank on the station deck in town is horrible. I know of people that have bought monthly and weekly bus tickets and now they cannot use them. We want the buses back.”
Azrah Peters-Crouch says she learned about the cancellations via Facebook when a resident complained about it.
“It’s a huge inconvenience because now we have to walk up the stairs to go to the taxi rank on the station deck, which is full and dirty, and people get pick pocketed.”
Faiza Moosa says: “They can’t just remove buses like they want to without notice, it’s wrong. I recently started working in town. The bus stop is right in front of my house. I recently had to wait until 17:00 and I work until 16:00 and then I heard the 17:00 bus was also removed.”
Moosa says she usually buys a monthly bus ticket which she’s now unable to use regularly.
“They told us we are supposed to take a Bellville bus and get off in Voortrekker Road and walk to wherever we stay, that is so unfair.”
Bronwen Dyke-Beyer, spokesperson for Gabs, says Golden Arrow has undertaken a “comprehensive audit” of its services in order to identify any offerings which are not being well utilised.
“This was not an easy decision but was necessary as part of Golden Arrow’s attempts to minimise the impact of cost increases on our passengers. The audit was used to identify services which do not have sustainable passenger figures, and these will unfortunately be removed from our service offering going forward.
According to Dyke-Beyer, the cancelled services had average passenger numbers ranging from two to 21 and have therefore been selected for cancellation as they are not “economically viable”.
She says for the last two weeks, officials have attempted to communicate these changes with passengers, but some may “unfortunately not have been reached.”
The following buses schedules have been cancelled:
- City to Maitland: 06:50, 07:00, 08:00, 09:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 15:20, 15:40, 16:20, 17:00 and 18:15
- Maitland to City: 06:30, 07:30, 08:40, 11:30, 12:40, 13:30, 14:30, 15:30, 16:20, 17:00, 17:35,18:45 and Fridays only: 15:00 and 15:50
Unchanged schedules:
- City to Maitland: 10:00, 12:00, 17:40 and Fridays only: 17:00
- Maitland to City: 06:10, 07:15, 09:30, 10:30 and Fridays only: 15:00, 17:40
She says passengers are able to make use of the Bellville to City buses which run every 15 to 30 minutes.
Dyke-Beyer says commuters with monthly bus ticket can contact them.
“Passengers do have the option of making use of our Bellville (via Voortrekker Road) services but if they do not wish to make use of this service they are requested to send an email to fares@gabs.co.za with their GABS Gold Card information.”
She says they do not anticipate reinstatement soon but will monitor the routes.
