Extra trips and extended hours during the festive season for Pacaltsdorp residents working at the Garden Route Mall, midibuses instead of minibuses on busy routes and a passenger-friendly community route – these are just some of the changes that will be implemented by GO GEORGE on Sunday 18 December 2016. The festive season adjustments will apply from 18 December until 8 January 2017.
These changes have been shaped around passenger demand, and should address several issues that have been aired by passengers lately.
Pacaltsdorp – Garden Route Mall
Route 12 Pacaltsdorp – Garden Route Mall has been streamlined in several ways.
Firstly, this route will from now on be run with midibuses only from Mondays to Saturdays, ensuring enough capacity to transport Pacaltsdorp residents to the Mall in time for work. The schedule changes slightly with the first bus departing at the Heather stop at 06:30 and not 06:20 as is currently the case, but up to now, minibuses were used on the first two trips of the morning. With all the trips now being serviced by midibuses, the capacity problem during peak times should be something of the past. On Sundays, a mix of mini- and midibuses will be used, scheduled according to demand, but good news is that during the festive season, all Sunday trips will be serviced by midibuses.
Secondly, operational hours on Route 12 have been extended for the festive season to accommodate the longer business hours of shops in the Garden Route Mall and Eden Meander. From 18 December 2016 until 8 January 2017, the last bus of the day will be departing from the Mall at 20:55, one hour later than usual. At the same time, extra trips have been added on this route for this period only, with a bus departing about every 20 minutes instead of every 40 minutes, throughout the day.
Rosemoor
The new additions to the Rosemoor routes, Routes 53A (weekdays) and 53B (Saturdays) have been rerouted along Triumph Street, as was initially the plan. Upgrading of Triumph Street has now been completed and these two faster, shorter routes will in future run along a longer stretch of Beer Street. Residents living in the vicinity of Beer Street are encouraged to use these routes instead of the longer Route 53. To service this route, two new bus stops have been built in Rietbok Street near the intersection with Triumph Street.
With the Rosemoor routes using the road behind Eden Meander now, another new bus stop called Eden Meander, has been built near the entrance to Blue Mountain.
Denneoord
Passengers using Route 56 CBD – Denneoord will be pleased to learn that midibuses will be introduced on this route during peak times.
Schedule changes
To ensure smoother transfers between different routes, timetable changes have been made to Routes 7 CBD – Garden Route Mall, 56 CBD – Denneoord, 13 City Loop, 12 Pacaltsdorp – Garden Route Mall and 53 Rosemoor (bringing back the trip departing from the Mall at 05:00). These timetables are being handed out in printed form to passengers. Anyone who has not received one, can pick up a copy at the GO GEORGE info kiosk at the Transport Hub, or phone the Call Centre on 0800 044 044.
