The A Re Yeng City bus that was hijacked by taxi driver yesterday with passengers on-board was recovered in Stinkwater Hammanskraal by the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) and escorted back to Rainbow Junction.
This follows the bus being hijacked by taxi drivers who are resisting the drop-off agreement reached in December 2017 with the City of Tshwane and the Hammanskraal Taxi Organisation (HATO), Stinkwater Eersterus Taxi Association (SETA) and Ga-Mokone Hammanskraal Stinkwater Taxi Association (GHSTA.
The details of the agreement are that the three taxi associations will no longer proceed into the central business district (CBD) area of the City from their point of origin but will drop off passengers at Wonderboom Junction in the morning and pick them up there back to the origin points in Hammanskraal, Stinkwater and Eersterus respectively at the single trip fare of R17.00.
The A Re Yeng buses will pick up those passengers at Wonderboom Junction to the CBD up to Hatfield for a single trip fare of R8.00.
This arrangement commenced on the 8th of January 2018 as per agreement with the three taxi associations.
On 16 January 2018, taxi drivers of all three taxi associations were forced to drop off at Wonderboom Junction as per the agreement with taxi operators. The reason for the forceful drop-offs is that, since January 8 2018, taxi drivers were not dropping off as per the agreement and they charged passengers R24.00 and R23.00 respectively instead of R17.00.
These forceful drop-offs resulted in the protest by taxi drivers that they did not want to load passengers from Wonderboom Junction to Hammanskraal, Stinkwater and Eersterus. They instead referred passengers to a hiking spot adjacent to Wonderboom Junction which frustrated commuters.
Tshwane MMC for Roads and Transport, Ms Sheila Lynn Senkubuge, said the drivers are in breach of the agreement entered into by the taxi associations and the City of Tshwane even after being compensated by the City.
She said the City has called an urgent meeting to put the associations on terms to ensure that all their drivers honour the agreement entered into on their behalf.
“Failing which, the City of Tshwane will pursue legal action to rectify the situation and ensure that commuters get the services to which they are entitled,” she said.
The MMC said the City of Tshwane is committed to ensuring that commuters get the necessary services they need which is reliable and safe transport in a well-connected city of opportunity.
“In doing so, we will ensure that all stakeholders who enter into agreements to provide service to our people do so or risk facing the might of the law,” she said.
The hijacking of the bus resulted in the operation being temporarily halted at Bloed Street Mall, Marabastad and Rainbow Junction. Operations resumed after two hours and when TMPD sent re-enforcement to Rainbow Junction.
