Bus debacle

I more or less forgot about this blog after establishing it last year to publish news snippets about current goings-on in Durban. These include items that catch my eye but don't belong in the main part of the Facts About Durban but which, in time, will become history themselves. I'll add to the blog on an irregular basis but you can always subscribe to a feed which will notify you of updates. Just click the Atom link to the right of this page just below the Archives section.

In 2003 I completed an article on the highlights from the history of public transport in Durban . I noted that, on 1 June 2003, Durban had privatised its buses and I went on to say that that I felt it had been a mistake. The bus fleet started looking tattier practically from day one and I have referred to at least one occasion [see the entry for 21 March 2006 here] when large numbers of Durban buses were inspected and found to be unroadworthy.

Things seem to have come to a head with the Sunday Tribune of 9 March, 2008, reporting that John Steenhuisen of the Democrtic Alliance had said that ratepayers might have to fork out R150-million to restore the bus service if the municipality took it back from the current owner, Remant Alton. It was reported that City manager Mike Sutcliffe had said there was no proposal to take back the service but Victor Baloyi, head of Ethekwini Transport Authority had apparently said that there was.

Watch this space for further details as they emerge.