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Polokwane’s Great North Transport accused of using ageing fleet

Great North Transport bus
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Commuters in Polokwane who rely on state-owned bus company, Great North Transport, have accused the company of using an ageing fleet. Some claim the buses are not safe.

Others at different pick-up points in and around the city, complain of over-crowding.

State entity, Great North Transport, ferries thousands of commuters daily. It’s now come under harsh scrutiny.

Safety concerns, late arrivals and a shortage of buses are just some of the issues for commuters.

“We use Great North Transport buses, they have a lot of problems. Some of them are old, they are often late and sometimes we get stuck on the road. The day before yesterday we got stuck, we had to walk to town.”

“The problem is the Great North Transport don’t care about the customers. They care about themselves because always we ask them to buy new buses because we are struggling. They say no we don’t care.”

Great North Transport says it’s working on a recapitalisation strategy.

“We are a state enterprise. We are currently talking to our shareholder which is the Limpopo Economic Development Agency which directly reports to the Department of Economic Development,  which together with Treasury are looking into recapitalizing GNT to precisely resolve all the challenges we are faced with currently,” says Patrick Monkoe, Great North Transport Spokesperson.

The Polokwane Municipality’s Rapid Transport System will ease the urban transport burden.

“We are expecting to start running it at the end of October. We are expecting the delivery of all the 30 buses. They are at branding and final testing. As you heard the speech of the Minister of Transport saying Polokwane is also considered. All RTS in the country are funded by the Department of Transport,” says Mayor of Polokwane Local Municipality Thembi Nkadimeng.

The Limpopo capital is one of the country’s fastest growing towns in the country.

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