TSC President Jordan Griffiths said that the real test will be to see how service usage changes during exams, making it hard to comapare until the end of June. In March the TSC approached the UP Executive to implement the bus service on a permanent basis. The proposal was approved on the condition that the university subsidise the majority of the costs with students paying R5 per trip. Griffiths said that students have to pay for the bus because the TSC does not have the funds to pay for it.
“We would also like to run the bus for as long as possible and possibly even the whole year if we can,” Griffths said.
“The university has agreed to take on all the costs on the condition that we also work to introduce a rate for the students who use it in order to test how much the bus service would actually be used.”
Jabulani Mphake, a second-year BA Languages student, said, “I don’t get why we have to pay because we are students, but if R5 is what it takes to be safe, then so be it.”
Second-year financial management student, Jane Radimo, said, “I am really relieved that there is an evening bus because I almost got robbed last year walking to my flat in Arcadia.”
Approximately 646 students made use of the bus service from 3 to 30 April and from 3 April to 6 May and 675 tickets were sold.
Griffths told Perdeby that the TSC needs more than one month’s worth of statistics before lobbying for the bus service to be made permanent.
According to the transport services department, the utilisation of the service will be monitored until the end of July when the university will decide whether to continue with it.
