Photo by: Bloomberg
Durban’s troubled and sometimes non-existent municipal bus service is set to be managed again by the eThekwini Metro Municipality after several years of being run by private operators.
According to a statement released by the municipality, the bus service will be run by a municipal entity, similar to that which runs the highly successful Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre.
The municipality’s council approved the return of the bus service to the municipal control.
The bus service was sold to in 2003 to Remant Alton Land Transport for R70-million.
In 2009 the company pulled out of running the bus service and the municipality paid R405-million to keep the operation running, which was taken over by Transnat Durban. That too has run into trouble and the city has had to pay extra to keep the bus service running.
Drivers and other workers have since the outset opposed the privatisation of the service and on numerous occasions during the past decade staged protests against the cutting of their salaries and benefits since being made private employees.
Mayor James Nxumalo said the purpose of forming the entity was to strengthen the bus service in communities where the service was poor or non-existent.
“This decision will ensure that the bus service is efficient for all people in eThekwini,” he said.
Exactly when the municipal entity would be created and take over the service was not immediately known.