End of an era as Greyhound hits a cul-de-sac
Johannesburg long distance commuters and students hoping to make their way to Park Station to catch the Greyhound bus ahead of the new semester and those travelling back home in coming months for the Easter break will have to make other arrangements.
On Wednesday, the Luxury passenger coach, Greyhound, announced that it will be closing its doors this month.
Its subsidiary, Citiliner, is also expected to stop all operations on Valentine’s Day.
It is unclear what drove the company to shut its doors after 37 years of service.
Union federation, Cosatu, has described the move as regrettable.
The trade union federation’s spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla, says many families will be left without an income.
Pamla says this is proof that South Africa needs a reliable, sustainable and integrated transport system.
The Democratic Alliance has called on Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula, to hold talks with the company in a bid to avert the shutdown.
Newly-formed political formation, Abantu Batho Congress, has expressed concern about the lack of explanation on Greyhound’s demise.
The organisation says the company’s fall signifies the urgency to rescue South Africa from business and government created societal corruption.
“Unitrans Holdings (PTY) Ltd that operated and owned the Greyhound bus service, amongst others, a wholly owned subsidiary of KAP International Holdings a company that is also a shareholder at Steinhof, where in turn, KAP also holds 25.9% shares. A rather bizarre arrangement, especially when one considers the very complex and mixed up business interests held by Steinhoff across several industries. The concentration of assets by Steinhoff in retail, manufacturing, logistics and other sectors, is placing many jobs at risk across South Africa, this would certainly be worsened by the COVID 19 pandemic,” it says.
The organisation adds that: “Now, terrible as this loss of the Greyhound bus service may be, the real tragedy lies in the loss of complete governance and controls at Steinhoff and the subsequent lack of action and recourse against Steinhoff by South African authorities, namely the Hawks.”
According to the company’s website, Greyhound services close to a million passengers a year, while Citiliner carries half a million a year.
Some of its customers have taken to social media to pay homage to the company that’s made their travel bearable over the years.