A new bus service will ferry soccer fans from Grahamstown and other parts of the Eastern Cape to World Cup games in Port Elizabeth, the Department of Transport announced last week.
A new bus service will ferry soccer fans from Grahamstown and other parts of the Eastern Cape to World Cup games in Port Elizabeth, the Department of Transport announced last week.
The service forms part of a national effort to provide affordable and safe transport to games around the country for spectators in accordance with Fifa stipulations.
“The South African Department of Transport is proud to announce that it has fulfilled its transport commitment to Fifa in readiness for the World Cup by introducing an inter-provincial and regional transport system which will facilitate the efficient and safe transport of general spectators to and from matches,”the department said.
The initiative forms part of the department’s 2010 Action Plan, and will provide a bus service running between East London and Port Elizabeth, via King William’s Town and Grahamstown.
The Port Elizabeth corridor of the plan also includes a trip from Mossel Bay in the Western Cape to the only host city in the Eastern Cape.
A fleet of 110 new 79-seater buses has been acquired for the nation-wide service, provided by established bus operators in the country.
The inter-city plan also makes use of midi-buses run by taxi operators, with fleet usage dependent on ticket sales and demand of the service.
Lusanda Madikizela, chief director of the South African World Cup unit at the department, said that World Cup spectators wanting to find out about transport details and information could log onto the website www.findyourway2010. co.za and plan their trips according to schedules and games.
A 24-hour transport call centre, located in Gauteng, will also run from 1 June, receiving real time information via the web portal and deal with national transport queries.
The website which is operational but does not yet have details about transport within the Port Elizabeth corridor provides updated traffic and transport information along with schedules and details of available bus routes.
Although no specific prices for the bus service have been released yet, the department has said that tickets will range from R140 to R300 for a one-way trip, depending on distance from the host city.
Spectators looking for alternatives to the department’s service will find bus operators charging between R75 and R189 for a one-way trip from Grahamstown to Port Elizabeth on the day before the first match at Nelson Mandela Bay stadium.
Local taxi operators are expected to charge anywhere between R50 and R100 for a trip to Port Elizabeth during the World Cup, depending on demand.
