City of Tshwane MMC for road and Transport Tlangi Mogale took a bus ride from Wapadrand (Lynnwood Road and Solomon Mahlangu Drive) to the City of Tshwane CBD, much to the surprise of her staff members and bus passengers.
“Using public transport allows me to experience at first hand the daily challenges our commuters face,” she said.
Mogale added that it was important for her to understand the bus service from the perspective of commuters in order to effectively identify areas that need improvement.
“I’ve used public transport before, however, today was for the specific purpose of assessing the Tshwane Bus Service (TBS) operations, identifying challenges and engaging with commuters,” she said.
Mogale said some of the challenges that she noted include the untidy state of some bus stations and delays in the bus schedule, giving assurance in the process that the said challenges were already being prioritised for resolution.
She said since the bus she took a ride in was not full, she was looking forward to yet another ride in the future so as to get more insight regarding bus services provided to commuters by the City of Tshwane.
“Based on today’s experience, timely bus schedules, improved station cleanliness and enhanced commuter engagement are top of my priority list,” explained Mogale.
“I spoke to several commuters who shared their experiences and all of them emphasised the importance of punctuality regarding the arrival of buses at all stations, and that perhaps we should consider adding Visa and Mastercard services for their convenience,” enthused Mogale.
She said in order to solve the aforementioned challenges; she has already started working with regional teams to address cleanliness at the bus stations and also to ensure that bus schedules align with agreed timelines.
“This bus ride experience will help us design solutions that are practical and effective to our commuters,” said the MMC.
“I’m so happy to see MMC riding a bus with us and waiting at the bus stop like ordinary passenger,” said passenger Keke Letsoalo.
“This is the first time I see MMC riding a bus with us and it shows she really want to solve all the problems in her department, and I fully support her and i hope it won’t be the last time we see her in the b us,” said Thabo Maleka.