The City of Durban on Friday suspended its public transport contract with embattled Remant Alton, leaving thousands of commuters stranded.
”We terminated the contract with immediate effect because they have failed to do the work. Our people will have to bear with us for three months while we try to sort out the mess,” said mayor Obed Mlaba.
Last year, the eThekwini Municipality spent R405-million buying back buses and equipment from the underperforming operator Remant Alton, to which it originally privatised the municipal fleet for R70-million in 2003.
According to the agreement reached last year, Remant Alton would continue providing service but the council would own the fleet.
The decision to buy back buses was done to improve the situation, but while this process was being implemented, the bus company continued to face problems.
It emerged during the executive committee meeting on Friday that Remant Alton was technically insolvent and that recent retrenchments by the company had led to industrial relations problems.
A shop steward had been killed, buses shot at, and management intimidated during the dispute.
On Wednesday, scores of commuters joined bus drivers in a march calling for the eThekwini Municipality to take over the bus service it privatised five years ago.
”For five years the bus service has gone from bad to worse. The bus service is nonexistent. Our children miss school and people also arrive very late at work,” said transport consultative committee spokesperson Ronnie Swaart during the march.
Speaking after the contract was terminated, Mlaba said the city realised that there would be hardships due to the absence of buses.
”We sincerely regret this but the reality is that the service over the past weeks in particular has been so poor that it can hardly be called a service anyway.”
In the next few days, his office would facilitate a meeting with taxi operators and Metrorail to ensure that people had access to alternative means of transport. — Sapa