Fare increases and commuter expectations

Thulaganyo Jankey | Monday May 30, 2022 08:53

In the history of strike action, no bus and taxi operators have ever had any strike without elements of violence. In fact, they don’t even need strikes to get violent. Their work place is usually an unorthodox blend of madness and strife. Sometimes all it takes to trigger violence is a lady in a miniskirt or see-through blouse just walking casually by.

No sooner had the strike started than one taxi driver who was identified as a Judas Iscariot of sorts accosted and subjected to a few whips and claps to flush out the Iscariot cells and molecules from his head. Taxi rank justice is swift. He was accused of betraying the struggle, sentenced to a few whips that were immediately administered on the spot.

His mitigating circumstances were drowned by a welter of accusations and he only managed a word in when justice had been administered - which was too late as justice had already been meted. Or perhaps injustice, it just depends on which side of the whip you are.

As they dug their heels and demanded a fare increase the petrified authority had no choice but to increase the fares much to the chagrin of distressed masses. The distressed masses are currently under siege from rising prices of fuel, cooking oil and that oil that lubricates relationships - money.

The days of sending roses with P200 notes wedged between them are well and truly behind us. Now we have to deal with a transport fare hike. Alas!

We do have our expectations too as commuters. We need improvements as consumers of your service. Otherwise we too are going to strike. I know this sounds like an idle threat because the last mass strike that happened over a decade ago petered into tears, unemployment and failed relationships. But never underestimate the power of people caught up in a sweltering furnace of inflation.

Firstly, those doors with complicated instructions like ‘push it like you are pulling it’ must be fixed. Imagine sometimes you need the strength of 10 crackheads to just close the combi door. Most of us are not that strong and gym membership is very expensive nowadays.

Public transport operators should also work on sanitising their language too. We are tired of being transported by operators who speak fluent trucker with sailor dialect and construction accent. We always see this as cursing. It is cursing!

The Taxi Association must also rethink the speed of taxis around 10am, that is, midmorning. The taxis have taken observing speed limit to a totally different turn. I mean how in the world do you drive at 30km/h with passengers on board. We are tired of you pretending you are observing traffic rules only at 10am when you disobey them 23 hours in a day. It does not sound genuine.

The music we also get served in combis leaves a lot to be desired. When did the whole country become fond of Amapiano that it should be forced down every commuter’s throat? Okay, I know this genre is trending and making money for promoters but still many of us are troubled by the turn inflation has taken and we cannot now have to listen to Amapiano from Mogoditshane to Ledumang.

I know all this is too much to expect for a P1 fare increase, but the tactics of negotiation are such that you ask for a myriad of things and you hope to get something. Our biggest concern is the ‘push it as if you are pulling it’ door so just give us that as a priority.

The others we will realistically expect to get in the next fare increase. So it is back to trucker language, slow midday public transport and Amapiano music. (For comments, feedback and insults email inkspills1969@gmail.com)