The guarantees provide for the number of commuters who will travel on the Gautrain. When these guaranteed commuter numbers are not reached‚ the provincial government has to compensate Bombela for the difference.
Replying in writing to a question in Parliament by Democratic Alliance transport spokesman Ian Ollis the minister said that Bombela was only obliged in terms of its contract to supply 64 carriages for the Gautrain during peak periods on weekdays and 32 carriages in the off peak periods. On weekends and public holidays 24 carriages were supplied.
Ollis said in an interview that he was inundated with complaints by Gautrain commuters that the train was always full during peak times. He wanted to know why Bombela could not increase the number of carriages.
But Martins said he was not in a position to instruct Bombela to increase any service or facility‚ as he was not a party to the Gautrain concession agreement signed by the Gauteng provincial government and Bombela.
"The Gautrain project was developed as a provincial project and the minister's role is aimed at ensuring integration between the Gautrain and other modes of public transport. The concession agreement is normally applied to determine when capacity on the system has to be increased‚" he said.
Ollis said it was unfortunate that the minister is unable to instruct Bombela to increase capacity of the Gautrain under this contract which seems to favour the commissionaire rather than the taxpayer who had to fork out the compensation under the ridership guarantees.
Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge
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