By Buziwe Nocuze
Passengers travelling from the Eastern Cape to the Western Cape on a bus operated on behalf of the IlulaBus company had to pay for fuel after the bus ran out of diesel.
The bus left Komani (Queenstown) on Sunday at 6pm and was supposed to arrive in Cape Town at 6am on Monday, but the passengers only got home at about 11pm on Monday.
Nolundi Ngqwiliso, a 40-year-old passenger, said she will never use the IlulaBus again.
“The bus got stuck in the middle of the road in Graaff-Reinet, and the driver contacted his bosses who promised to send the diesel money, but they never sent the money,” said Ngqwiliso.
The bus ran out of fuel at about 6pm on Monday, and the passengers thought they would spend only a few hours waiting.
“After two hours of waiting for the money we decided to contribute R50 each so that we could continue with our journey and hoped that the owners would send the money without any problems,” said Ngqwiliso.
But the diesel bought by the passengers only took them as far as Beaufort West before it ran out again. This time, however, the bus company managed to send the driver money to buy fuel.
One passenger decided to hitchhike after the diesel ran out.
“I couldn’t take the risk of missing work after the bus got stuck a second time,” he said. “There have been many complaints about them. Instead of fixing whatever issues they have, they continue giving us bad service.
“We are grateful to motorists who assisted us with water. IlulaBus needs to take passengers seriously or just stop operating if they don’t know how to treat passengers.”
IlulaBus responded by saying: ”The bus that left Komani on that specific date was a sub-hire bus operated on behalf of IlulaBus.”
The company said it assisted with the diesel and that the subcontractor also provided diesel.
“The driver confirmed that there was a problem with the diesel gauge and that it wasn’t giving the correct information despite diesel being put in. It showed empty, and the sensor was faulty.”
Pictured above: IlulaBus passengers who were travelling from the Eastern Cape to Cape Town had to contribute R50 each after their bus ran out of diesel.
Image source: Supplied
