The bus line, which mainly operates in the Mangaung Metro, was forced to temporarily suspend its services on Tuesday 23 July after disgruntled taxi drivers brought Bloemfontein’s city centre to a grinding halt, citing the traffic department’s alleged biased treatment as their main reason. The large disgruntled group alleges traffic officials give IBL operators preferential treatment by not conducting roadblocks for the buses and regularly checking permits. IBL spokesperson, Vuyo Ondala, says the company has noted the concerns raised but did not go into further detail on the matter. Ondala further apologised for any inconvenience caused to passengers. 

The OFM News team spoke to Heidedal taxi driver, Damian Dauds, on Tuesday, who demands that the buses be phased out.

“The first problem we have with them is they have no permits to drive on the routes like we as taxi drivers have to have permits and route forms,” explains Dauds. He says they stopped a couple of IBL’s buses and found that only one bus had a permit. Its alleged IBL’s drivers failed to account for the absence of a permit when probed. Dauds asks what kind of permit enables IBL’s buses to travel from Thaba Nchu/Botshabelo to Bloemfontein’s central business district and then pick up passengers in Bloemfontein’s townships.

When asked about their view on Mangaung Metropolitan’s imminent introduction of rapid transit buses, named Hauweng, in light of their current issue, Dauds says they are in full support of the Metro’s plans but want IBL phased out as soon as possible.

In February 2019 the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality signed a 30-year lease agreement with the Greater Bloemfontein Taxi Association through its entity, the Free State Taxi Association, to operate the Free State capital’s R400 million Intermodal Transport Facility . The long-term lease was described as a first in the country by members of the taxi industry and the municipality. Municipal Manager, Tankiso Mea, said that the facility answers the very urgent call for socio-economic transformation. It was revealed the taxi industry was on board with the metro regarding the introduction of the Hauweng bus line as a part of the metro’s Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN).

Construction for this network, on the other hand, has been marred by protests from unhappy local contractors. In June, Foko Motlatsi Phillimon (FMP) Contractors dragged Mangaung Metro to court over its and other local businesses' alleged exclusion from the metro’s IPTN Hauweng project.

OFM News