Interstate Bus Lines (IBL) has resorted to using its own budget to repair roads in and around Bloemfontein where the Mangaung Metro Municipality fails to do maintenance.
According to DA councillor Raynie Klaasen, the IBL has been working for years to improve the poor conditions of the roads used by its buses, which provide services to residents in the municipality.
“Standard buses are best suited for tarred roads due to their lower suspension and rear-wheel drive. This means that the standard buses are more effective in cities.”
She says that the buses are struggling due to bad road conditions, especially in places like Thaba Nchu, with huge potholes and uneven roads all over.
“The unevenness of the roads leads to a greater risk of suspension damage – and eventually possible serious accidents.”
As ’n result of these challenges, the IBL recently introduced truck chassis with bus bodies to be able to navigate the bad roads.
“They are spending roughly 80% of their budget on repairing roads and are investing in equipment such as graders, TLBs and tipper trucks to make roads suitable for the use of their buses.”
Klaasen said the DA have submitted various Rule 38 questions to the municipality.
The DA are now requesting answers from the MMC for infrastructure, Molefe Morake, on how the infrastucture will be repaired and how much funds are allocated to repairing unserviceable roads, as well as what the metro’s action plan to solve these problems entails.
“Business like the IBL are struggling economically due to a lack of good governance by the municipality,” Klaasen concluded in a press release on Friday (30/09).
