Municipal entity to run bus service

The uncertainty surrounding the running of the Municipality’s bus service has finally been resolved after EXCO approved the establishment of a Municipal entity to run Durban Transport service. The entity will be run along the lines of the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (ICC) and Ushaka Marine Theme Park – with a board of directors, a Chief Executive Officer and staff – with Council playing an oversight role.

The resolution follows months of deliberations about the best management model for the bus service, with three options being presented. Option one involved the City taking over the running of the service as a department, option two was for the establishment of an entity and the third option was to continue with the privatisation of the service. The first option was not favoured because it would put more financial burden on the City’s coffers and would have led to the loss of the transport subsidy from the provincial and national governments, requiring an additional R307 million. “We have experimented with privatisation of the bus service for many years and it has not worked,” said Deputy Mayor, Nomvuzo Shabalala.

City Manager Sibusiso Sithole was mandated to appoint a dedicated team to drive the process of establishing the municipal entity and provide Exco with monthly progress reports.

“We must now engage with the National and Provincial Departments of Transport to ensure that we get the necessary guarantees for the continuation of the subsidy. We also need to negotiate with different stakeholders in terms of the absorption of labour from the current operator to the new entity,” said Sithole.

In order to avoid interruptions in the bus operations in the interim, Sithole was authorised to appoint an independent team to work with current operator Tansnat to ensure stability of the operation. Early this year Durban Transport experienced service interruptions following the non-payment of staff and diesel supply shortages. The current month to month contractual arrangement with Tansnat will continue until the establishment of the entity.