City Press reports that commuters are in for a rough ride this week as they face not only a hike in taxi fares, but also the possibility of being unable to use the country’s trains.  

With the new taxi fares set to come into effect on Wednesday nationally, people were hoping to use trains as an alternative mode of transport, given that rail lines were set to open on Wednesday as well.  However, they may be in for a rude awakening.  While state-owned rail agency Prasa has proved to be compliant with social distancing regulations, its ability to meet its technical responsibilities has been called into question.  While other modes of public transport were permitted to resume operations at the beginning of June, albeit under strict Level 3 lockdown regulations, rail operations were delayed.  Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula attributed this to Prasa not being ready to open.  Recent developments have raised further doubts on whether Prasa will be ready to ferry commuters on Wednesday as planned.  City Press has seen pictures of missing overhead cables, and has been informed by technical staff and train drivers alike that even railway lines in some areas in Gauteng have been cut at sporadic intervals and stolen.  It will be bad news for commuters if train operations don’t resume on 1 July, which is the day the country will see a capped taxi fare increase of R7 nationally.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Poloko Tau at City Press

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