The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has committed to run a limited Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) service from next month following urgent intervention by the Metro to restore the much-needed service.
The commitment was made during a closed meeting between the National Department of Transport, led by Deputy Minister Lisa Mangcu and NMBM led by Executive Mayor, Gary van Niekerk at the City Hall in Gqeberha, on Tuesday, 21 May 2024.
Deputy Minister Mangcu visited NMBM to conduct oversight work as part of DoT’s programmes under public transport and to provide support to the Metro to ensure the IPTS is running again after the buses were taken off the road last year to improve the safety, reliability and accessibility of the service in NMB communities.
Mayor van Niekerk said following the intervention to refurbish more buses, the Metro is confident that a limited bus service will be ready by 9 June 2024.
Following the meeting, the Mayor said: “Today we had a fruitful engagement with the National Department of Transport, the buses are being refurbished. We have a good plan, on 9 June 2024, the Sunday service will resume. People can look forward to that. MMC Bradley Murray and I will be on one of those buses and from there onwards we are looking at having more buses on the road.”
“We are committed to our responsibility to the residents of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and hope that we can reach a common ground in the best interest of our community. The Government of local unity is determined to change the image of the IPTS, as it has been a source of major corruption over the years.”
Deputy Minister Mangcu said the DoT would continue to support NMBM however there was a demand for critical changes in the running of the IPTS.
“Within 30 days starting tomorrow, we want to see a service that is running whether it is two or five buses. Secondly, we want to see stability in administrative staff, we want to see a structure of people that are permanent that will be able to run this system and we said within 30 days we want to get feedback. The third issue is, we want to see the City in terms of its budget being able to demonstrate their financial commitment into the running of the project. The national department gives money but the City through its own coffers must put in money. We have given the City six months to resolve their issues with the company that has been contracted to run it.”
“We can say to the residents that the Metro has assured us that the service will be running, we did see one of the refurbished buses. We want to say the system is here to stay, and within the first week of June they should expect to see a limited service but it will increase gradually until it is fully implemented to where it was before,” the Deputy Minister said.
NMB Communications
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