Bus drivers marched in Cape Town today demanding better wages and working conditions. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
12 April 2017
Long and winding queues formed at the taxi rank in Site C, Khayelitsha this morning as commuters who usually use buses turned to taxis during the bus drivers’ strike.
Several commuters criticised the bus companies and the unions for failing to inform them before the strike started.
Unathi Mona, 34, of Site B, said she wished the bus company had let her know about the strike.
“This has now left me in a difficult situation because I must now fork out R32 for a single trip to work despite the R142 monthly ticket I bought for the bus over the weekend.” Her journey costs her R8 from her home to the taxi rank, R16 to Cape Town station deck taxi rank and R8 from Cape Town to her work in Sea Point.
“It seems as if we will just have to endure the situation, difficult as it is,” said Mona.
Sinazo Dayimani, 39, from Town Two in Khayelitsha said she now had to pay R16 for taxi fare to Mowbray when she had already paid R128 for a bus ticket.
“I hope it does not last long,” said Dayimani.
Nomsa Jabula, 20, from J section in Khayelitsha who spent R130 on a weekly bus ticket to Killarney near Milnerton, said she hoped workers and management could end their differences soon. “We cannot afford this kind of problem because the cost of living is already too high.”
Thirty-two-year old Ntombekhaya Dlephu, who works at the Waterfront, said she would have to start work late as a result of the strike.
By 10:00 am the extra crowds of commuters had cleared.