Bus operators worried about taxi wars

Top Drivers Wanted
Drivers seen reading The
Driver at Manline's
Mkondeni depot.
This company is always
hiring, manje, they set
high standards here so
don't bother calling this
number if you cannot
reverse your link like a
pro,call them on 083-
333-3339 to hear where
the next tests take place.
Sinkhole on N3
This sinkhole on the N3
outside Pietermaritzburg
near the Peter Brown
offramp on the N3 was
quickly fixed, but now there
is a deep dip in the slow lane
to shake up the load.
The best
vehicle on
earth is not,
on earth, but
on the red
planet Mars.
More on
page 4
News to inspire professional drivers of all size vehicles in southern Africa Nr 30, March 201 5
Bus operators worried about taxi wars
NATIONAL bus operators last
week repeated the message they
give each year at the annual
Southern African Bus Operators
Association conference, but for
201 5 they added service delivery
protests into the mix.
Addressing the operators on
transformation in the bus
industry, costing expert Philip
van Ryneveld warned if bus
operators did not get the
increased subsidies they need to
continue supplying cheap and
safe transport, the current
average of three service delivery
protest a month in Gauteng
could treble to nine — a pattern
that he warned could repeat
along bus routes everywhere in
South Africa.
Earlier deputy Transport
minister Sindisiwe Chikunga
told the assembled operators
South Africa’s public transport
challenges are compounded by
serious service backlogs “as a
result of years of neglect and
underinvestment” in public
transport. He warned just
throwing more money at the
problem will not solve the
backlogs as South Africa already
Freda Cooper (second from left) with the Sekalis, who transport shoppers from the Eastern
Free State to Gauteng, (from left) Joyce, Matshidiso, Lerato Sekali and Thabang Sekali.
subsidised about 60% of a bus
ticket compared to 30% or less
in Europe and zero percent in
most African states.
He said the solution for SA’s
public transport challenges goes
beyond funding and includes
issues such as spatial
development planning, proper
management and proper
planning.
Several bus operators
complained during forum
discussions illegal taxi operators
were “stealing” their clients
away, while the ongoing
planning showed no signs of
coming to an end.
Van Ryneveld however told bus
operators their view that rapid
bus transport programmes will
erode their business, must shift.
He said bus rapid transport with
its gross contracting payment
model are not feasible on South
Africa’s traditionally long bus
routes, on which all the
passengers typically travel to the
same destination on return
journeys. Similarly, these long
route operators would not
survive in the shorter routes of
cities, which has a business
model that require passengers to
constantly get on and off the
bus. Lisa Seftel, former director
of transport in the City of
Johannesburg, said lack of clear
leaders in the taxi industrylack
of input from the taxi industry
can still take the whole bus
sector down. .

Shot left! No, jigga right, aah sh*t!
TWO drivers pulling this container were
lucky to escape with only bruises after
the driver somehow missed the entire
bridge on the N1 leading to the M5
highway in Cape Town and plunged
down to the bottom.
ER24 paramedics found the guys out
of the truck and holding their heads
under the bridge.
They were taken to the Vincent Palotti
How not to pick
a lane when
driving in Cape
Town's dense
traffic. Two
drivers were
injured in this
crash, but
luckily not
seriously. Many
more drivers
who saw the
photo almost
ruptured
themselves
laughing.
Hospital.
The highway had to be closed to
remove the truck that was blocking two
lanes, delaying the Cape Town traffic by
hours. - Driver Reporter.
Drunk and disordery man thanks police for the bed by stealing cop car!
A man who was detained at the
George police station overnight for
being drunk and disordely stole a
cop car and drove off when he was
released the next morning.
Romantha Botha reports for Die
Burger Police spokesman Captain
Malcolm Pojie said officers traced
the vehicle to the N2 near
Mosselbay and set up a roadblock.
The suspect first tried to swerve
aroudn then tried crashing through
two police vehicles and a truck
parked.
“The stolen police vehicle left the
road and ended up in a ditch,” said
Pojie. The man crawled from the
wreck and did not try to run any
further.
He was treated for minor injuries at
the Riversdale Hospital and charged
with theft of a motor vehicle, and
reckless and negligent driving.
- Driver Reporter
Stolen trucks
for stolen steel
A JEALOUS business rival may have
alerted Gau-teng police to arrest a
Johannesburg millionaire businessman
and 1 0 drivers at a factory in Leondale.
The factory was filled with were loads
of hijacked steel and petrol while the
yard was full of stolen trucks.
“They were arrested after a tip-off
about a truck hijacked with steel,” police
spokesperson Warrant Officer Kay
Makhubela told Sapa.
He said police found the steel when
they arrived at the factory as well as a
number trucks in the yard which had
been stolen. One had been hijacked in
Welkom and another in Durban.
Speaking from the scene, Makhubela
said it appeared that there was also a
facility to drain stolen petrol.
The millionaire businessman owns a
trailer and transporting company that
moves goods around the country and on
the continent.
Yesterday morning police were trying
to verify the ownership of the vehicles
on the properly and taking an inventory
of the goods.
The 1 0 drivers and their boss will
appeared in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s
Court in Alberton on Monday 1 6 March
and the case was postponed.
With a ready market for processes
metals, the theft of especially metals
such as steel and copper happens around
the world, with the stolen goods shipped
in containers to China. Transporting
containers filled with this loot is as
dangerous as stealing it, as hi-jackers
await en route. — Sapa-Driver.
Page 2, March 201 5
“There is nothing more difficult than waking someone who is only pretending to be asleep. ” – Desmond Tutu

The lights of an oncoming car is
circled... typical mist along the N4
and N3 escarpment, when hot, moist
air from the Indian ocean condenses
overnight against cold air from the
Highveld on the way to Jo'burg.
New toll fees
DRIVING on the N3 will from Saturday
cost motorists R11 more while truckers
will have to pay up to R44,47 extra.
The South African National Roads
Agency (Sanral) yesterday announced
the toll fees the national roads, including
the N2 and N3 in KwaZulu-Natal, will
increase on Saturday.
The adjustments to the tariffs are based
on the preceding twelve months CPI.
The average CPI adjustment for Sanral
managed toll tariffs is 6,01 7%.
Sanral CEO Nazir Alli said the increase
were linked to the inflation rate to, “as
we do not want to increase road usage
costs beyond what is reasonable.”
The Driver iziZulu editor Samuel
Makhathini said a super link on the N3,
which currently pays R739 one way,
will pay close to R45 more over the
weekend.
Makhathini said bikers on the N3 will
pay or total of R1 93 in tolls— the same
as motorists or a Siyaya taxi pulling a
trailer. - Driver Reporter.
The best car on earth is on Mars
FAR above our heads, on a star that
looks a little bit red, three of the finest
vehicles made by humans are roving in
temperatures that range from −1 27 to 40
°C.
Apart from lasting much longer than its
builders planned, these robot cars also
use power sources that are every fleet
manager wants.
The latest of these rovers is a 6x6
probe named Curiosity. It weighs 899
kg. Standing a bit talled than a man at
2.2 metres, Curiosity is loaded with the
latest scientific instruments to analyse
what it finds on the red planet, including
a lazer camera.
But it is the drivetrains in these Martian
rovers that fascinates drivers. Like like
the successful Viking 1 and Viking 2
Mars landers in 1 976, Curiosity is
powered by a radioisotope
thermoelectric generator (RTG).
Wikipedia explains that radioisotope
power systems (RPSs) are generators
that produce electricity from the decay
UD Trucks has launched 1 3
models of the Quester range.
On hand to drive several of the
trucks was the vice president of
product strategy at UD Trucks,
Nobuhiko Kishi. He told us the
Quester was designed according
to the needs expressed by fleet
operators in "modernising
markets" in Africa, and will
probably not be sold in Japan.
He pointed out the Quester range
of radioactive isotopes, such as
plutonium-238, which is a non-fissile
isotope of plutonium.
Heat given off by the decay of this
isotope is converted into electric voltage
by thermocouples, providing constant
power during all seasons and through
the day and night.
Waste heat can be used via pipes to
warm systems, freeing electrical power
for the operation of the vehicle and
instruments. Curiosity '​s RTG is fueled
by 4.8 kg of plutonium-238 dioxide
supplied by the U.S. Department of
Energy.
Curiosity '​s power generator is the latest
RTG generation built by Boeing and
Idaho National Laboratory. Based on
legacy RTG technology.
It is designed to produce 1 25 watts of
electrical power from about 2,000 watts
of thermal power at the start of the
mission.
Its plutonium fuel will last at least 1 4
years. - Driver Reporter.
Nissan confident in new Quester, but no prices yet
comes with the bare minimum of
on board computers controlling
the two engines from the Volvo
Group, and these computers
controlled only the most basic
functions to ensure their durability
in dusty, shaking conditions.
Asked if the Quester won't
cannibalise the UD Quon's sales,
Rory Schulz, managing director of
UD Trucks Southern Africa said
the Quester range will “simply
Standing a bit taller than a man, Mars
explorer Curiosity has a nuclear power
source to drive its motors and prevent
freezing on the red planet.
If priced right, the 8x4 Qeuster tipper
may prove very popular against the
trucks from Powerstar and FAW.
enhance our offering to the
market”. - Driver Reporter
“Amabhulu azizinja” - Steve Biko” Page 3, March 201 5

Small trench stops abnormal load
TRUCKS with an urgent abnormal load
were stopped in their tracks by a shallow
trench and a few rocks across the R74
between Greytown and Muden in
KwaZulu-Natal.
Jeff Wicks for The Witness reports the
Mercor trucks are carrying components
vital for the construction of the Kusile
Power Station in Mpumalanga, which is
already five years behind schedule, have
been standing at the roadside for over a
week, victims of a bitter service delivery
dispute.
Residents on the outskirts of Greytown,
who have been fighting for land and
services in the area for nearly four years,
have dug deep trenches across the R74,
making it impossible for the six trucks
carrying the Kusile parts to pass.
With no traffic having moved through
the area in weeks, the operations of local
farmers and lodge owners have also
been affected.
The dispute, which has at times turned
violent, is now hamstringing pivotal
electricity grid infrastructure as the
country deals with a nationwide power
crisis. Kusile, one of Eskom’s flagship
power generation projects, has been
plagued by delays.
These delays are expected to be
exacerbated by the marooning of key
boiler components in Greytown.
When completed, Kusile and Medupi
coal-fired plants will provide nearly
25% of the country’s electricity. The
blockaded and badly damaged R74 is a
major freight route for abnormal loads
because of the width of the road,
relatively low traffic volumes and
absence of low bridges. A line of six
special interlink trucks, carrying large
Abnormal drivers Johan Roos (left) and Vincent Cele seen at the back of
the giant boiler, in which they set up chairs to wait out the latest delay on
their route. Drivers of abnormal loads often wait weeks for police escorts.
steelworks which are set to form part of
boiler infrastructure at the Kusile Power
Project, now stands idle at the roadside.
The trucks, which each run at a rental
cost of R25 000 each per day, have been
stranded for a week while alternate
routes are considered.
The service delivery demands at the
centre of the conflict stretch back over
several years, with the community
regularly blockading the road and
looting and burning several freight
vehicles.
In April 201 2, 1 35 people were arrested
on charges of public violence after the
community blockaded the R74 with
trees, rocks, tyres and debris. This was
not the first delay for an abnormal load
travelling from Durban harbour.
Abnormal drivers are used to delays, as
the rigs must have police escourts
through each municipal area.
But the police often have more urgent
matters to attend to and often do not
have vehicles spare to accompany the
slow load as the drivers carefully steer
along the B-roads. The delays can be a
few days or a few weeks, which is very
frustratging to the factories waiting for
giant parts, but not so much for the
drivers who have learned to treat the
wait as part of this specialised job. The
one thing that get most drivers down is
being far from home for so long.
To all the drivers who help to deliver
The Driver to truckstops and taxi
ranks, a big thank you again. Below
are just some of guys who helped us
get editions 28 and 29 out there.
Special, to
Gaborone,
Botswana.
Sibongile nonke!
Victor, to
Jozini in
north KZN.
Douglas, to
Mooi River,
KZN.
Jeanot to
the Easten
Cape.
Enzo, to
Mmbabane,
Swaziland.
Ndabase and
Ncombe, to
Bloemfontein
Ricardo to
Jo'burg.
Johan even had an old copy
of The Driver, he delivered a
new MAN and copies to Mpu.
Page 4, March 201 5
“Ifyou want to increase your success, double your failures. ” – Thomas Watson.