A trip from Maruapula Shopping Complex to the bus station that should take about 10 to 15 minutes took about 30 minutes.
Commuters who were angered by the strike that took them to work late were not pleased and it showed in their faces.
But they were left with no choice but to use the very same taxis that abandoned them in the morning.
They dragged their feet when a combi was waiting for them and their facial expressions said how angry but helpless they were.
Hey station, station, the conductor shouted to the people who were on their way to the bus stop.
There are a few passengers already in the combi who have to wait until the time that the driver would want to leave the stop.
The driver too shouts to the person and turns his head to the conductor: They think that we are ashamed to call them.
It is our job and we are going to call them as if nothing happened.
The conductor smiles and complains of how they lost business during the day.
We could have made some bucks today but now we are going to suffer, he indicates.
The passengers who were quite clearly trying to ignore the driver and his conductor during their exchange could not take it anymore and one man made his feelings known.
What you did was childish. What have you achieved? he quizzed.
The driver replied that they won the case and the buses would not be seen operating through town anymore.
He was clearly in the dark about the outcome of the meetings that were held by the representatives from the association and the officials of the Ministry of Works and Transport that afternoon.
If they continue operating like they were doing, very soon a bus is going to burn down. We are not going to let them go just like that, the driver says.
The passengers are silent with some sneering when the conductor looks at them.
He laughs and tells how a police officer was attacked in Old Naledi when he tried to bring order to the unruly taximen.
These officers think they know everything. They are just like this UB students. We take them everyday to their school and at the end of the day they think that they are more clever than us, he says laughing out loud.
I hear they burnt down a taxi at Mogoditshane because the man wanted to continue picking up passengers. He did not want to listen to the other taximen and the same would happen to this bus drivers that we are complaining about, the driver says.
The combi reaches its destination at the bus station. Another trip to Phase Two by a taxi is started with the driver asking the passenger by his side how he managed to go to work.
How do people manage in the morning, he quizzed and the man just gave a small laugh and kept quiet.
Nobody said anything for the remainder of the journey.
Even though there were allegations of taximen intimidating other motorists and beating other people there were no cases that had been reported to any of the police stations.
