05 Apr 2017

Despite customers believing that it is the safest means to commute, public transport has turned to disappoint its users as it is unreliable and tends to be an inconvenience when needed the most, especially in the morning.

Speaking to BOPA, Department of Road Transport and Safety acting deputy director, Mr Goodwin Tlhogo said the department was aware of the unreliability and inconvenience caused by public transporters in Mochudi. Mr Tlhogo said all scheduled route permits were issued attached to time slots and every operator was expected to display it in the bus.

He said the public must be informed that they could appeal or report their dissatisfaction to the department of Road Transport.

He further noted that there was an act that prescribed the penalties for the different offenses that might be imposed to anyone who failed to comply depending on the nature of the offense and its gravity.

“Regulation prescribes the penalty for failure to observe departure times, whereas Section 11 of the Road Transport Permit Act provides for a suspension and a revocation.

For other forms of misdeeds, Section 25 of Road Transport Permit Act also state another option of penalties and all these depends on the nature of the offenses,” Mr Tlhogo explained.

He said his office was aware that a substantive number of operators between Gaborone and Mochudi were not reliable and advised the public to use Malolwane transport as they were legally allowed to carry passengers disembarking at Mochudi.

“It will take joint efforts with transport providers to earn public trust. It should be noted that the department facilitates issuance of permits, but provision of transport is for the individual persons or companies who have their own economic challenges, hence failure to provide adequate reliable public vehicles,” Mr Tlhogo said.

Further, he said his office had in place operations that were conducted on a monthly basis as well as daily patrols, which helped detect wrong doing in the operations.

He also advised the public not to use pirating, which he said were prone to road accidents than buses.ENDS