Dismayed commuters who have been inconvenienced yet again by striking Gautrain bus drivers – the second time in three months and the fifth strike in a year – say the service is becoming unpredictable and unreliable and feel they are not getting their money’s worth. Providing the premium rail and connecting bus service has cost around R30 billion to date – a sizable slice coming from the taxpayer – and fares are not cheap. Unused trip values on multi-journey tickets are not refunded. Daily passengers have lost count of the number of times trains have failed due to power problems and the line to Park station will be a year behind schedule if it opens in March.
Speaking for the Bombela Concession company, Kelebogile Machaka explains that the drivers’ latest demand is for transport from their residences to work. On 10 January, they did report for duty, but at 06:00 instead of 05:30, which meant the earliest scheduled buses did not run.
Affected bus routes included Randburg, Fourways, Johannesburg CBD, Noordwyk, Sunninghill, Technopark, Southdowns, Pretoria CBD, Brooklyn, Lynnwood and Menlyn. Drivers were still on strike when this report was written.

Original article [Railways Africa]