Johannesburg’s Rea Vaya BRT (bus rapid transport) system, operated by former taxi owners, was gaining good momentum before it was derailed by the latest drivers’ strike, which lasted for the entire month of August and shows no sign of ending.
Before the suspension of the service it had reached the level of 1-million fares a month. Rea Vaya’s main trunk routes were operating at good and increasing passenger levels.
In the city centre buses were relatively empty, but Johannesburg’s executive director for transport, Lisa Seftel, hoped that a new smartcard system, which would give discounts for off-peak rides, would improve matters.
The project had the unusual distinction of being praised by both major political parties in the city council.
Subject to the resolution of the industrial relations problems now besetting the project, the principle of former taxi owners operating bus routes may in future be extended to Metrobus routes in Johannesburg.
Seftel said that extending a similar operating principle to Metrobus was an option for the future, although it hadn’t yet been decided on.
In the BRT system the right to operate a route is put out to tender and licences are sold to operate it. If the operator fails, the licence can be revoked.
For the City of Johannesburg the system, in theory, has the advantages of outsourcing. Theoretically, it does not have to deal with strikes, although in fact the opposite has been the case so far. And the city does not have to pay city transport executives inflated packages.
The operator is paid a guaranteed amount per kilometre, but only if the bus runs.
In Rea Vaya 1A’s case, the operating company, Piotrans, now owned by former taxi operators whose businesses were affected by Phase 1A of the implementation of the project, is being paid about R28 a kilometre. This provides Piotrans with a guaranteed minimum income.
The per-kilometre amount is paid whether one or 100 passengers get on, so overloading is unlikely.
Incentives
There are strong incentives for good performance by the operating company and penalties for the opposite. It is not known how much these penalties are but Piotrans is arguing that they should not be applied in this case because the problems were inherited.
But the biggest penalty facing Piotrans as a result of the strike is the lack of revenue.
Rea Vaya’s infrastructure is owned by the city, funding for it having been provided by national government. Financing for the buses was raised by the city, but the repayments are made by the operating company (although if the operating company defaults the city is the guarantor).
Nico de Jager, Democratic Alliance council spokesperson for transportation, said: “The BRT system is phenomenal and much needed. It must be expanded and improved. It has now covered Soweto and the south, but the fastest-growing area in greater Johannesburg is the West Rand, which has very little public transport of any kind.”
On the expansion of the scheme, he said: “There is little point in bringing people to the city centre because what do they do there? Routes are needed outwards.
“The environmental impact assessment for the route from the city centre to Sandton, down Oxford Road, has been delayed. The provision of routes has not kept up with the original schedule.”
Seftel said a route from the city centre northwards to Sandton would be the next to be opened.
A trunk route is typically supported by several BRT feeder services, ferrying passengers to and from the main routes.
Phase 1A of Rea Vaya, which was completed in time for the Fifa World Cup, cost R1.6-billion. Phase 1B, involving 10 stations, is currently under construction and will cost an estimated R1.2-billion.
Phase 1B will add 150 buses to the existing fleet of 143 buses. Piotrans will not necessarily get the contract for Phase 1B.
The members of those taxi associations that wanted to co-operate with the new system, had to scrap or sell their taxis and stop operating on the 1A routes.
Their vehicles were sold at auctions paid for by the city or scrapped by the government agency concerned with taxi renewal.
Their taxi operating licences were cancelled and each contributed R54 000 to the capital of Piotrans to get shares.
A number of Soweto taxi associations participated in the system, but the South African National Taxi Council and the National Taxi Association have no shares in it.
Piotrans, the shares of which are owned by about 580 taxi operators, appointed Victor Cordoba as the company’s chief executive earlier this year.
Cordoba is from Fanalca South Africa, a local subsidiary of one of the largest and most successful BRT bus operating companies in South America.
Fanalca was founded in 1958 and its headquarters are in the city of Cali in Colombia. It is an important industrial group in that country, with activities in the industrial, automotive, waste collection, water treatment and distribution, motorcycle and public transport sectors.
Fanalca operates systems involving more than 5 000 buses in Bogota, Cali and Monteria in Colombia, Santiago in Chile, and in Panama.
Driver, union no-show flabbergasts owners
The strike by about 200 Rea Vaya bus drivers, which has scuppered the service since the beginning of August, is the eighth wildcat strike by Rea Vaya drivers since the service two years ago.
On August 29, after the strike had been in operation for a full month, owner Piotrans’s executives were “flabbergasted” that drivers’ representatives did not arrive at the long-awaited bargaining council meeting. Now Piotrans will apply to court to force the bus drivers to return to work, or try to find a way to dismiss them, although that is likely to provoke violence.
The drivers are unlikely to receive a welcome if they try to return to the taxi industry, much of which is still opposed to the Rea Vaya development.
The apparently self-destructive behaviour of the drivers is partly a result of a union recognition issue. The previous Rea Vaya operating company was owned by the city council. The drivers insist on continuing to be represented by the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), but a municipal union is not recognised by the South African Road Passenger Bargaining Council (Sarpbac), which requires representation by a transport union. Samwu has long had an aggressive relationship with the city and Piotrans is suffering the consequences.
Councillor Rehana Moosajee, mayoral committee member for transportation for the city, said: “Action now has to be taken within the ambit of prescribed legislation not only to resume the services but also to resolve the matter in such a way as to prevent similar future wildcat strikes and so to ensure stable and dependable Rea Vaya services.”
The city is apparently fully behind Piotrans. It believes that the company is doing everything it can to resolve the situation.
The Piotrans bus drivers embarked on an unprotected strike on the morning of August 1, without any prior warning, stranding more than 40 000 Rea Vaya passengers.
The reasons for the strike included issues regarding shift work and wages, although the workers in this sector are not entitled to plant-level bargaining on such matters. These are negotiated at a central level through the bargaining council. Rea Vaya drivers are on bargaining council determined rates. Although they were started on minimum rates, conditions have been improved since Piotrans took over operation of the service in February this year.
Piotrans obtained an urgent interdict to force the drivers to return to work and a final ultimatum in this respect was issued for Monday August 8. All drivers except for 17 returned to work on that day and the 17 were subsequently dismissed.
The drivers embarked on another strike that same morning and Piotrans proceeded once again to apply for an interdict to force them drivers to return to work.
Due to a technicality — the dispute was not referred within 30 days by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration to the bargaining council — the court decided that it was a protected strike. The dispute was subsequently referred to the bargaining council, Sarpbac, and a date for conciliation was set for August 29. Efforts to bring this date forward were unsuccessful and on August 29, Piotrans bus drivers and the union did not attend the conciliation meeting.
“This is very disappointing and demonstrates a lack of commitment by the drivers to find a solution to the strike,” said Moosajee.