Cape Town - Covid-19 has changed the way people travel ahead of the second festive season in the pandemic.
Stock Road bus station in Philippi East used to be buzzing, with people carrying luggage preparing to board buses. Every 30 minutes, a bus carrying passengers would exit, taking them out of Cape Town to different parts of the Eastern Cape. Sadly now, two hours can pass with no buses going out.
“During this time, when Covid-19 was not around, we would have five buses going to the Eastern Cape a day, but now, it’s only two,” said Boyce Jobela from Jobela Bus services. The bus company is one of the biggest companies that transport people between Eastern Cape and Cape Town.
Buses and minibus taxis are still only allowed to carry 70% of passengers for long distances.
“Less and less people are travelling now due to the pandemic,” said Jobela. “Many people have died, others lost their jobs, and this is why we are seeing less people travelling. People do want to travel, but it is difficult, and for us businesses, we are losing customers.”
Taxi associations Codeta and Cata have also admitted that the pandemic has changed how they operate but promised to continue to adhere to regulations set by the government.
“We were first hit hard when we could not carry 100% load locally,” said Cata’s Andile Seyamo. “It is even more difficult now, especially with less people travelling. Unlike other public transport services like Metrorail, we are not subsidised by the government. We are battling as the taxi industry, and no one is willing to assist us.”
The minibus taxi industry said it does not make economic sense to carry 70% load for long distances and might be forced to increase prices.
The associations are accused of bullying motorists with private vehicles by trying to force them to have a limited number of passengers when travelling. Minibus taxi operators are often seen on roads patrolling and stopping vehicles.
Codeta’s Andile Khanyi denied this and said when they patrol, they look for illegal operators.
“We cannot stop people from driving their cars and giving rides to people. What we will not allow is having illegal operators operating on our routes.” He said illegal operators use busy times like the festive season to steal customers from them.
“We have to patrol roads to prevent this from happening, but we are not targeting private motorists, and if they are harassed, they can come to report that to our offices.”
Ntomboxolo Makoba-Somdaka, the spokesperson to MEC of Department of Transport and Public Works Daylin Mitchell, said it was too early to tell if roads are busy and said the patrols are illegal.
“It must be clear that, other than authorised traffic or police officers, no one has the right to ‘impound’ vehicles or to impose ‘fines’ or ‘release fees’. The actions by these criminals must be called what it is – hijacking and extortion. These so-called patrols are illegal.”
She said her department, together with the Department of Community Safety, have ensured that the SAPS treat these cases as such, and we will continue to monitor the situation.
“Understanding that the victims of such crimes are more often than not, reluctant or afraid to open criminal cases once their vehicles have been released or recovered.”
Weekend Argus