Commuters Who Use Public Transport Deserve Good Service

Monitor Editor | Monday February 26, 2018 14:26

Smart businesspeople know the importance of keeping customers happy, and satisfied, but unfortunately some of our public transport service providers seem to have it all wrong or upside down. 

People who use public transport, especially combis, do not get the best of service. The government a few years back was considering introducing a public transport system, all in an effort to address public transport challenges.

Service providers made a lot of noise about the issue, and lobbied government to not even think about introducing a public transport system run by the government. 

The arguments of course made sense, because the sector does not only create employment, but also sustain owners of the businesses, so many, especially combi owners’ main complaint was that government by doing so, would be killing their means of survival.

This of course made a lot of sense, but one would have thought, after the idea was abandoned, public transport service providers would up their game.

But no, things remain the same, and in some instances have become worse. It is not uncommon for a combi driver to start moving while customers are still looking for seats to settle down, and sometimes, the drivers harass customers to alight faster because they are in a hurry.

There is also the issue of reckless driving exhibited by some of the drivers. We have had a number of road accidents involving combis, which sometimes lead to casualties and serious injury.

The service providers claim to have an association, but there is still very little to show in terms of behavioural change amongst public transport operators, especially combis.

There seems to be a stand-off between transporters and customers in Palapye, which somehow goes to show that perhaps our government is not doing enough in regulating this particular industry.

Anyone who has ever taken public transport for quite some time will understand how difficult some if not most of the combi drivers are. The same applies to other road users.

The challenge of public transport operators refusing to take people to their destinations is not only peculiar to Palapye; it happens in most parts of the country.

The Department of Road, Transport and Safety, should take stiff action against transporters who do not comply. When someone applies for a permit to service a certain route, they should do so without fail. In terms of issues such as bad roads, that is an area they have to address with the authorities instead of making customers suffer.