Drama as Rea Vaya’ Piotrans busses leave commuters stranded and angry

Staff reporter

Troubled Rea Vaya’s bus operator Piotrans is seeing flames on its operations.

Piotrans which operates City of Joburg’s Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system between Thokoza Park and Ellis Park has left commuters angry on Monday afternoon to evening due to the fact that drivers and staff are on protest.

The controversial bus company that is owned by nine taxi associations had failed to pay salaries of its employees on Monday and this has resulted in the staff revolting and downing tools over non payment of their salaries.

Stranded commuters were shocked when they arrived to bus terminals in Johannesburg and Soweto, where they were greeted by the non arrival of busses to take them to their various destinations.

So bad is the situation is that some of the passengers claim to have bought weekly and monthly tickets but they came face to face with the reality when the busses fail to arrive.
On Sunday, Sunday World reported that Piotrans owes another Rea Vaya’s bus operating company, Litsamaiso, a tune of more than R9 million over fuel use accumulated by Piotrans from Litsamaiso.

Angry commuters told Step UP SA News that they did not know about challenges faced by Piotrans and whatever financial crisis the company faced had nothing to do with them.

“We came to the bus station to be taken home not to be stranded.

They issue of Piotrans Rea Vaya busses is not our problem. It was evident enough that this business which is run by taxi owners was bound to be engulfed by problems,” said Nthabiseng Mofokeng, a commuter traveling from Joburg CBD to Orlando in Soweto.”

Another incensed passenger, Moses Kutumela said that he was not happy on how commuters are subjected to such mess by Rea Vaya’s Piotrans.

“Litsamaiso is running as scheduled and there are no issues, but Piotrans is messing with us. This Rea Vaya project was bound to fail due to the failures of taxi operators who do not understand business. That woman Zotsho (Nozotsho) Memani is the problem in this company. She is the chairperson of Piotrans but she is failing to deal with the governance issues. Piotrans must just shut down and the City of Joburg should let other competent companies to take over. We can’t be subjected to this nonsense,” said Kutumela.

In a letter leaked to Step UP SA News, Piotrans management apologized to employees for not getting paid and stated that it was dealing with the matter.

“Piotrans would like to apologize to employees regarding the delay of salaries as a result of non payment from the City of Johannesburg due to outstanding contractual submissions,” reads the letter from Piotrans management.

The management is giving this matter attention,” reads the letter.

Rea Vaya commuters, using the financially troubled Piotrans busses, a company rendering services for the City of Joburg, are stranded in the Joburg CBD as there are no busses ferrying them home.
This comes after Piotrans had failed to pay its drivers and general staff on Monday.

The controversial Piotrans has found itself in many controversies lately including failing to pay more than R9 million to another Rea Vaya bus operator, Litsamaiso.

Today Step UP SA News can reveal that angry drivers chose to revolt against Piotrans as they did not get paid their wages.

In a letter we have seen, Piotrans management apologized to employees for not getting paid.

Piotrans chairperson Nomazotsho Memani said, “Firstly, I wish to pass express our sincerest apologies to all our commuters for delays due to some buses not being available. Rest assured that we are working around the clock to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. The Rea Vaya commuters remain our top priority.”

She added by saying that the main cause of these delays is that there are certain requirements that must be fulfilled with the City of Joburg and other role players around the new contract.

“This has taken longer than expected as it has to be thorough and uphold the high standards that we are all used to. This process has led to these delays and also had a ripple effect salaries. As a result, I learned in a meeting today, that drivers and some employees may refuse to work if all of this is not solved by today.

“To address this, we have sent a delegation that is busy engaging employees in order to make sure that everyone understands the current situation. We also met with shopstewards on Saturday to address this and, though the shopstewards see where we are coming from, I’m told that some employees are refusing to accept these reasons,” said Memani.

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