IPTS ‘dry run’ extended
Image: Eugene Coetzee
Following the launch of the first phase of the beleaguered Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS) two weeks ago, the municipality has extended its “dry run” until next week.
This follows an incident over the past weekend, which raised concerns about safety, while the municipality figures out its plan going forward.
On Saturday, a rock was thrown at an IPTS bus ferrying commuters from the city centre to the Cleary Park Shopping Centre, causing thousands of rands’ worth of damage and slightly injuring the driver.
IPTS head of security Thomas Ruiters said the incident occurred just before 3pm.
“The driver received a few scratches from the shattered screen but none of the passengers were injured,” he said.
Security on the buses and drop-off and collection sites had been beefed up since. “We have security officers on the buses and along the routes.
“We also have a response vehicle travelling the routes to ensure passengers’ safety and our control centre monitors the buses remotely.”
Municipal spokesman Mthubanzi Mniki said the damage to the windscreen amounted to about R3 000.
“As soon as the windscreen is repaired, the bus will be back.
“However, this will not hinder or disrupt operations.”
Ruiters said the man who allegedly threw the rock had been identified by Cleary Park Shopping Centre security as an illegal car guard.
Mniki confirmed that the alleged perpetrator was in police custody.
Since March 26, IPTS buses have been ferrying residents between the Cleary Park Shopping Centre and the Port Elizabeth CBD free of charge, with this “dry run” supposed to end on Monday.
But Mniki said it would instead continue until next week pending the assessment of the various routes.
“According to the operational plan, [a full system rollout will be] before the end of this month,” he said.
Although no tickets had been sold yet, the public was enthusiastic about the eventual arrival of the IPTS, Mniki said.
“The municipality expects that the bus system will be a huge success.”
Ticket prices will range from R5 for a single transfer trip to R10 for a single main trip.
Chris King, chief executive of Spectrum Alert, which is contracted to operate the IPTS buses, said although there were some technicalities to iron out regarding the fares, a single trip from the Cleary Park Shopping Centre to the Port Elizabeth CBD would be at a flat rate of R10.
Transfer or feeder route trips would be a flat rate of R5.
“We are still busy preparing the feeder routes and have a few technical matters to sort out,” King said.
Feeder routes would ferry commuters from the northern areas suburbs to the main bus routes using branded taxis. Although no provision had been made yet for wheelchair-users, this would be sorted out in due course.
Tickets at a 20% discount for pupils, students and pensioners would also be available on production of the correct identification documents.
Tickets for the extended dry run will be available free at the Cleary Park customer care centre and the Mfanasekhaya Gqoboshe Building.
Mniki said the IPTS office would embark on a much more aggressive awareness drive in the coming weeks.
