Good day,
I am a Golden Arrow commuter on the route, Atlantis to Bellville, and I must say, I find it absolutely horrifying the quality of service providers, Golden Arrow subject their loyal commuters to.
For the past two years now people have been logging complaints and it seems by the way the situation persists, that Golden Arrow just could not be bothered. It is for that reason that people just have given up logging complaints, and it would even seem that that particular driver can now openly have a vendetta with such person that dared log a complaint.
I feel compelled to bring it under the attention of management at Golden Arrows, that you are actually dealing with real people, with real lives and real responsibilities and real families, that depend on us to go out and earn a living, and return safely and timeously so to continue with our responsibilities at our various homes.
For months now, there have been complaints about a certain driver everyone calls Vraagom. I don’t know if this man is untouchable at Golden Arrow, if he has some higher authority protecting him, or what it is that he has backing him, but the way he treats YOUR loyal commuter is an absolute disgrace. Yesterday I was standing at the bus stop in Hugo road, just over the bridge by Halt Road Elsies River. With my arm far outstretched while he was still a good distance away, he looked me right in the face, and drove past me with scores of empty seats. Even I from where is was standing could see there is plenty of space. He proceeded to the bus stop in Franse Conradie, stoped there, and picked people up.
He does this every chance he gets, drives past you the one day and stop for you the next day. Two weeks or so ago at the bust stop in Jan van Riebeeck, opposite Pick n Pay, we were still standing at the stop, the door was still busy closing when this woman go there and wanted to get in. There was a long line of traffic standing at the robot, which was still red. He told her “NO”, in so many words. NO he will not open the door. We were still standing at the bus stop and stood there for a good almost a minute before the robot turned. He literally refused to open the door for her even though he had no reason to, and we all asked him to open for her. This woman have small children, one which she still needs to fetch at crèche, . She now, has to add to her already overly stretched budget, to pay for someone to get her baby at crèche, and keep him there, because a miserable bus driver decides, she can wait for the other bus. She still needs to fetch her kids, bath them, cook for them, clean her house, help with homework, and still get everything done to at least get in bed at a decent hour, to only be up while it’s still dark outside to get to work and earn a living.
We as loyal commuters of Golden Arrow is sorry that we come from a community where we cannot afford domestics and private caregivers so that we can get home whenever it suits the bus driver Vraagom. We are sorry that we are not prestigious enough for Golden Arrow to consider us to be human and at least be treated with respect. We just ordinary citizens that is reliant on a public transport system which we actually do not get for free, to put food on the table and a roof over the heads of our not so important children. That very same woman he dropped at a bus stop almost a kilometre away from where she was to get off, only because he felt she pressed the button to late, which she actually did not. This as when we had that blazing heatwave a week ago, and she had to walk back in that heat, plus the distance to her workplace. Have you fine people at Golden Arrow got any idea how demoralizing that is. Walking that distance, stressing about now being late at work, rushing, getting there eventually all sweaty, having to bear the brunt, not to mention, forgetting to look out for purse snatchers that can take away what little bit of valuable you might still have left on your person. Valuable that is actually bare essentials.
That same Vraagom almost took of my arm along with a fellow commuter’s, call Ilze Goodman, at that very same bus stop in Hugo road. We were standing there arms stretched out to get him to stop. He slacked as if to stop, only to speed up the closer he got to us and nearly hit us. We did not report that incident because by that time, everyone was sick and tired of reporting this man that would just get away with it anyway. Ilze Goodman is on maternity leave now at the moment, but you can contact her on [protected] to get her version of the story.
For what reason must I always be late for an appointment in the evenings I have to schedule so that I don’t have to miss work, just to find that another appointment have been slotted into mine because I was late, and I now have to wait for an opening. For what reason must my children wait extra-long for their dinner, have to battle alone, because I just can’t get to everything because the bus drive Vraagom decides.
This man looked me in my face last night with an expression I could swear, had a “middle finger”on it, and just nonchalantly There were plenty of empty seats, and I was at the bus stop a good ten minutes before he passed, indicated long before he got to me that I would like to get on by having my arm stretched out. There was also plenty of people at the bus stop who can testify to this. These people made no attempt to try and get onto his bus, just me, because they are all too well aware of his attitude. There is also plenty of people inside the bus that is willing to testify to this. Also, he drove past me, but stopped at the very next bus stop and pick people up there.
So really, what have I, as a commuter that pays my ticket, make sure I am at the bus stop on time, and never does anything to the drivers to upset there mood, done to Golden Arrow, to have to continually be subjected to this kind of treatment. I was just standing at the bus stop, waiting for a bus. I COULD NOT HAVE DONE ANYTHING TO HIM!
I really would like a reply on this, because clearly, from where I am sitting, management at Golden Arrow is not capable of dealing with bus driver Vraagom, and if there is an executive member or someone higher up I need to direct this too, I would be happy to do so. This man is negatively impacting on our private lives. If this man is acting like this because he is pushing to get fired, I mean give him a depot bound job then, but why must we as the commuters continually be subjected to this blatantly rude man, and hope and pray he will stop if you stick out your arm.
Thank you kindly
