Metrorail on 12 June 2015 decided to
drop the bombshell and announce their intention to increase ticket prices from
July 1st.
Now this came as no surprise to me as I was engaged prior
to this announcement but I also knew last year it was coming – in fact I’ve
known for the past 5 years.
Before I try and become harsh on
Metrorail for the increase, let me first try and be objective and share the
following that comparing to 2014 there has been some of improvement:
- Speed restrictions that were imposed early last year have been lifted at most of the sections.
- Morning and even evening cancelled trains came down from 14/15 at a time to three/four (not ideal but it is an improvement).
- Security is my biggest concern and with Metrorail not immune to social challenges, there has been an increase in guards on trains – again not what it should be but an improvement. The challenge now is to get the railway police back on our trains, preferably times and areas most vulnerable.
Why the increase:
Besides the obvious fact that everything
is increasing, Metrorail for three/four years had no fare increase and this led
to a 16% increase when they eventually had to implement one (something I as a
commuter would not want again). The then management made a commitment towards
commuters to never place such a huge burden on them again, but to do that
annual increases are needed.
Maybe worth mentioning that it is Prasa
and not Metrorail who decide on fare prices, although Metrorail gives input.
Also worth mentioning that following last year’s outcry, for the first time,
the minister of transport this year wanted to see the fare increases and Prasa
had to justify them – she is yet to sign off on them.
Metrorail is like any other business and
a household, who has to make money to survive. With the announcement the
Regional Manager stated they taking a pro-poor pricing strategy for weekly and
monthly ticket prices. This means Metro-users (third class) pay for only 6.5
trips per week but have the option of 14 trips including weekends. Metro
monthly tickets are priced at 3.1 weeks travel but your ticket allows you to
travel for 4weeks.
Considering old assets beyond their
design life, obsolete technology and extensive open system vulnerable to
vandalism, land invasion, service protests and vagrancy that contribute to the
maintenance burden – yes an increase is needed.
Expectation:
Ideally I would have wanted the transport
minister to ask Treasury and public enterprises for a bigger cut of the pie and
joint venture to fast-track the improvement of our old rail infrastructure.
Seeing as train tracks beyond Stikland
and most of the tracks beyond Kuilsriver on the Northern Line belong to
Transnet, I would also expect the transport and public enterprises ministers to
be bold enough to transfer those tracks to Metrorail to ensure better service,
as their hands are currently tied.
Having said that too many freight trains
operate in commuter peak-time and even though goods trains bring in more
revenue than commuter trains, the two ministers can make a decision for freight
trains not to operate in commuter peak – as the past year have seen too many of
them fail in section leading to commuter trains being delayed for up to three
hours.
What Metrorail cannot ignore:
Metrorail’s biggest challenge remains customer
service communication – I comfort myself with the fact that the Regional
Manager not only understands the importance of this but also the frustration of
thousands of commuters and is trying his best to make sure this is being
addressed.
It is also comforting to know the Regional Manager occasionally takes
a train “undercover” and addresses issues like no announcements, electronic
boards that are off, etc.
It is highly unlikely that there will be
no increase, so it should be highly unlikely there should be an hour with no
customer communication (should be comforting for the tech savvy to know we still have GoMetro and @CapeTownTrains to keep us informed - last mentioned made some major improvements past few months and should be deployed to assist the struggling Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal regions)
Metrorail is going to get their revenue
(with the increase), so now us commuters should get better more proactive
customer service communication.
