The South African Bus Operators Association (Saboa) has endorsed the training and development of 28 female bus and truck drivers.

This is in collaboration with Clarendon Transport Underwriting Managers, which is co-funding the development of the candidates, and with the Commercial Transport Academy, which is the creator and implementing partner of the project titled Women Inspiring Women in Transport.

This project is funded and supported by the United States Agency for International Development and corporate South Africa.

This initiative is in response to the industry’s ongoing need for the upskilling of operators in the various subsectors, and to ensure a more equal gender and age balance among operators.

The programme began last month and, once complete, Saboa will ensure that all candidates are placed in the industry across its membership base.

Earlier this month, Saboa met with the Public Utility Transport Corporation, or Putco, to discuss the possibility of training the candidates that did not qualify for the programme, says Saboa executive manager Bazil Govender.

“It is envisaged that this will become a yearly intake going forward to sustain the development of females in the bus and coach industry.”

Further, more bus operators need to be trained in keeping with the transition towards electric vehicles, adds Govender.

“We need to transition towards taking the same pool of currently employed people and reskilling them towards electric vehicles and introducing new skill sets into that sector. This needs to be a priority. A good balance.”

As a result, Saboa will engage with the Transport Education Training Authority and the Road Freight Chamber, as part of a planning process, to introduce relevant training programmes for bus operators.

Addressing Violence

Govender notes that there has been an increase in crime within the bus industry in South Africa, owing to years of intermodal conflict between bus and taxi operators, socioeconomic challenges and public protest action.

Violence aimed at buses is in the form of extortion, intimidation, disruption of services and damage to infrastructure.

Govender cites an incident in Eldorado Park, in Gauteng, earlier this month whereby buses were torched, owing to violence incited by members of the surrounding community and local taxi operators.

He says there is no coordinated inter-governmental approach seeking solutions and that the reported incidents have yet to be escalated to investigation stage.

Moreover, he cited the Global Initiative Strategic Organised Crime Risk Assessment for South Africa as a “sobering report” on organised crime in the local mass transit industry.

The report indicates that attacks on buses by the taxi industry occur because of an unregulated taxi industry and competition to ensure that the taxi industry remains profitable.

“This is still a matter of national concern. The bus industry cannot resolve this scourge on its own and Saboa continues to advance the quest and requirement for an overarching national avoidance strategy. This requires the South African Police Service (SAPS) to deploy various units, such as riot control and crime prevention, to address these challenges.”

Govender adds that there have been minimal improvements in ensuring safety in the bus industry, with government yet to formally address the issues.

Hence, Saboa, along with organised labour unions and community representatives, have penned an open letter to government calling on it to address the issues.

“There are different inputs, but government is not coming to the table and we cannot take a step towards crafting a strategic plan to counter this without government. I must concede that the SAPS has given us a representative, but it still needs the mandate, which we can take back for approval only once we have had an engagement with all the parties. We cannot commit resources without the departments of Transport, as well as Safety and Security, being part of the process,” he explains.