Cape Town train crisis bad for business‚ say employers

13 May 2016 - 17:25 By TMG Digital

Cape Town’s failing commuter rail transport system and increased traffic congestion has left the city on the verge of crisis‚ says the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry.In a hard hitting statement on Friday‚ the Chamber said a survey of its members had found that 85% of those polled said employees were demotivated and productivity had been reduced.About 90% of employers said traffic congestion had increased transport costs in terms of fuel consumed and time lost.The president of the Cape Chamber‚ Janine Myburgh‚ said the survey revealed growing anger at the underperformance of Metrorail.“What makes this so desperately sad is that Cape Town has the best network of railway lines of any city in the country but the service on these lines seems to be getting worse every day. This lies at the heart of the coming crises‚” she said.The survey revealed that 27.4% of respondents said they now had to deal with an absentee rate that had increased by 10% or more and 50% said their absentee rate had increased by between 1% and 10%.Companies were trying to compensate by providing transport‚ helping with taxi fares or introducing flexitime.Employers said their workers were getting a raw deal from Metrorail. “They pay for a monthly ticket but when the service isn’t there or trains are too late they have to find money to pay for taxi or bus fares. There are no refunds.”Some employers alleged that minibus taxis increased their fees when trains were not available.Another problem involved returning home‚ especially at night in winter‚ when employees were targeted by criminals.One employer said: “There really is no order on trains. People travel Metroplus with no tickets while people paying a load of money for Metroplus are shoved around. You fear for your safety.”The situation on the trains forced more commuters to use cars‚ making traffic congestion worse.One employer described problems caused by the rail service as a “disaster for my business. My clients need their deliveries and need to run their businesses.”..

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