Contracts for buses signed with the Gauteng department of roads and transport will be reviewed, to improve the service provided to commuters.
Transport MEC Ismail Vadi made the announcement on radio station Power FM on Friday.
"We have 34 bus contracts in Gauteng. These have just been extended from 1994, periodically. We have extended them till March 2018. We have taken a clear policy decision that all these contracts are up for review and that process has already started …. There will be clear specification on the quality of buses‚" Vadi told reporters.
His department has tasked the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to review the existing routes of all 34 contracts. The CSIR will also carry out field studies to get data on the number of people using bus services in Gauteng. This information will be used with the integrated transport plans of the municipalities.
The department will also appoint an independent transaction facilitator, who will make sure the contracts are done in line with government policy of empowering previously disadvantaged groups.
"We do not want to be involved with the bus companies‚ working out the deals for empowerment. I don’t want a single official of the department to be in that process‚" said Vadi.
The formal signing of the new contracts should be some time in 2017‚ in time for 2018.
In August, the SABC’s Cutting Edge programme revealed the poor conditions of Putco buses — Putco is contracted by the department. Buses were also often late.
Vadi said he and Parks Tau (when he was the mayor of Johannesburg) had travelled in the Putco buses. "It was a cold day in winter. I was there and the bus was late. There is no shelter; if it rains on that particular day, people are exposed completely.
"The amount of complaints I am getting from commuter forums‚ particular on Putco‚ it is very sad. But I can reassure you that we are going to be changing these contracts."
TMG Digital
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