23 Jan 2014

Public transport operators plying their trade between Molepolole and Letlhakeng as well as surrounding areas have agreed to form a committee that will iron out the persistent challenges they encounter.

It emerged in a meeting organised by Letlhakeng police on January 21 that the route was plagued with challenges such as failure by operators to stick to assigned loading and departure times, piracy by non-licensed operators as well as conflicts with the traffic police.

One of the operators who ply the Molepolole/Ditshegwane route, Mr Rapula Modise complained that the traffic police had a tendency of charging combi operators unnecessarily.

“There are instances where a combi can get full before the stipulated time of departure and when you leave the police charge you. We find it odd that even when your combi is full, you have to wait about 15 minutes with passengers inside to avoid the charge by the police,” he said.

Mr Modise also pleaded that in large villages that had no taxis, the police should allow the operators to drop commuters around the village rather than drop them at the rank. He said this after they were informed that the law did not allow long distance public transporters to go around the village dropping customers.

Mr Kagiso Kgalemang of Molepolole Operators Committee advised that to curb the problem of piracy, operators should be informed of the numbers of permits in the areas and their owners so that they could easily identify illegal operators.

The operators also complained of uncivil language used by the police when dealing with them. For her part, the station commander for Letlhakeng, Superintendent Photshanyana Mogatsaseno encouraged operators to report to the office improper behavior by the police officers.

She advised operators to respect each other to avoid the currently common incidents where they fight for customers and loading times. The head of traffic division in Letlhakeng, Inspector Lawrence Nkwe advised the operators to clean their act, especially that villages such as Letlhakeng would soon get tarred internal roads, which would require an efficient transport service.

Welcoming the operators, Supt Mogatsaseno said the meeting was prompted by the current conflicts between the operators and the police, as well as between the operators themselves on issues such as piracy and failure to obey stipulated times of departures and loading.

“We have observed that some operators load outside the times stipulated in their permits while others take a longer time than required to load and this affects customer service,” she said.

She said by addressing the complaints, police would like to build a cordial working relationship between the operators and the police, which would ultimately improve customer service. Supt Mogatsaseno expressed hope that the committee would help the police in dealing with such issues. ENDS