Almost 10 years ago, GO GEORGE rolled out the first four bus routes to Rosemoor, Denneoord, Loerie Park and the Garden Route Mall with a fleet of 12 buses. Today, the GO GEORGE bus service transports almost 20 000 passengers per weekday with a fleet of 133 buses, over a network of 33 routes and 465 km.
Celebrating National Transport Month in October, GO GEORGE Manager, Morné Lakay, expressed his gratitude for the progress and growth of the past year. “Nothing gives us greater pleasure than seeing the community benefitting from our services, increasingly using this convenient and affordable way of travelling to work, school and wherever they need to go,” he said.
“The crowning achievement for the past year is undoubtedly the roll-out of a first route to Thembalethu. With the construction of the Thembalethu/N2 bridge completed recently, a second route transporting residents to the industrial area where many work, is set to be activated soon. More routes will continually be rolled out as capacity and circumstances allow.”
Infrastructure development
The development of the transfer precinct at the Garden Route Mall comprised construction of a sheltered terminal facility with seating, encompassing the existing Smart Card kiosk. The modern design was based on that of the George Transport Hub in the city centre. The project also included the installation of six bus shelters – two of which were special shelters to accommodate the high volume of passengers; construction of universally accessible sidewalks, electrical works for lighting within the shelters and terminal facility, and the supply and installation of a UPS system to power the entire transfer location.
Road upgrades
Municipal road upgrades are continuously being done on roads all over town as funding allows. This includes roads currently being used to provide the public transport service as well as roads that will be needed for the service in future.
Rehabilitation and upgrading of Golf Street in Parkdene and Hope Street in George South were completed recently, while construction in Ngcakani Street and Tabata Street in Thembalethu, and several roads in Rosemoor and Pacaltsdorp are underway or starting soon.
Enhanced online features
An exciting addition to the customer-service offering is the new-look GO GEORGE website which is being promoted as a one-stop source of information, accessible through the scanning of a QR code, or by entering the web address www.gogeorge.org.za. Enhanced features include timetables fed directly from the system database and a stop explorer where a stop number or name can be entered to provide the user with all the routes servicing a specific stop, as well as the times the bus is scheduled to depart at that stop.
The use of QR codes leading users to the website has been introduced and explained to passengers and will eventually also be displayed at bus stops for easy access to stop-specific information.
Customer care continues existing services through communication champions, an info kiosk and the Call Centre where passengers who require additional guidance or information can phone 0800 044 044 to speak to an agent seven days a week, from 05:00 util 20:00. Aside from the new features, the website www.gogeorge.org.za offers detailed information regarding the use of the system, while the GO GEORGE Facebook page provides in-time service notifications and handy tips about using the service.
