Public transport key to fuel hikes

We must critically evaluate whether by everyone using their private vehicles, we are not accelerating the rate at which petrol and diesel prices are rocketing by heightening consumption.

Government should come up with a strategy that would promote the use of public transport. But the industry has to be efficient if it is to be viable enough to win public appeal and support. Currently, the state of our public transport vehicles leaves much to be desired. One does not need to go far to see some of the dilapidated and smoking buses and combis that are paraded on roads as public transport. In some cases, the buses are even unreliable, as they do not keep their set timetables. And, of course, that is not to forget about the unhygienic conditions in most of the public transport vehicles. One cannot even dream of putting on their best clothes and boarding a combi to work due to the overcrowding and unsanitary conditions that characterise our public transport vehicles.