A student's journey from Gauteng to the Eastern Cape turned into a nightmare after the coach driver wanted to disembark her about 400km from her destination, accusing her of having used a “fake” ticket.
Inga Qwane, a third-year law student at Wits University, believes that if it were not for the intervention of fellow passengers on board the Intercape bus, the driver would have dumped her in Aliwal North at 4am on Friday. She was on her way home to Qonce (King William's Town) to attend a family traditional ceremony.
Qwane said she bought her ticket to travel from Pretoria to East London online, as she has done in the past. However, on Friday she was shocked when the bus driver told her that her ticket reflected that her destination was Aliwal North on the booking system instead of East London.
The bus stopped near Jamestown, an Eastern Cape town south of Aliwal North, as the driver kept calling his head office in Pretoria for clarity, causing a delay of about two hours. Other passengers started to get agitated.
“I thought it was just a misunderstanding because I knew that I had done nothing wrong. I calmed myself. Passengers complained about being delayed and the bus had moved for about 60km when the driver received another call from management. He was told he should have left me at Aliwal North. They [Intercape management] wanted my ticket which I sent to them.”
“The response from their office was that my ticket was fake. I asked them how the bus scanner managed to scan a “fake” ticket and why did the same ticket reflect on their booking system? After that the driver was instructed to go to the nearest police station, which was Jamestown. Police said they were unable to make a determination on the ticket and suggested we go to the Intercape office in East London, which was my destination.”
According to Qwane, when they arrived in East London, the bus company's employees said the matter would be investigated and there was no need for her to pay for the ticket again.
“When I asked them if I should pay for the ticket again they said there was no need. They did not want to admit that they were at fault. I also want to see the completion of their investigation. Right now I do not know how I am feeling, I just want to focus on what I came here to do,” she told Sowetan on Monday.
According to one of the passengers, they refused to allow the driver to offload Qwane because it was not safe and that the scanners validated her ticket.
“We all disembarked with her and the police said we must sort it out in East London. We could not leave her behind and we even offered to club together to pay for the ticket,” said the passenger.
Intercape apologised for the incident on its social media platforms.
“The passenger in question was in possession of a valid ticket from Pretoria to Aliwal North. She was also in possession of a second ticket to East London which had been noticeably tampered with and, according to Intercape staff, was not valid.
“Under the circumstances, the passenger was requested to disembark at her designated stop at Aliwal North. After consultation with Intercape management, it was eventually agreed to allow the passenger to proceed with her journey to East London. We regret the nature of this incident and the unnecessary disruption this caused. We take the welfare of our customers very seriously and always strive to conduct our operations in an ethical manner based on our values as a company.”
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