Today I felt like I participated in a little bit of history in the making. I joined a couple of hundred others on the first couple of trains open to the public on the Gautrain.
I’m not going to gush positivity all over my experience as Ivo Vegter implies everyone has done and blindly so but I am going to try and be balanced in my positive experience.
Yes, there were problems very early in the morning. While entering the parking lot it seems as though someone forgot to put tickets in to the parking machine, so no one entering was able to receive their parking tickets. This was swiftly sorted out by a Gautrain employee standing at the boom and swiping for every car. So on the plus side, parking was free today.
Of the five pay-points to purchase your Gautrain Gold Launch Edition travel card probably two worked consistently, but at random within the five. Point #1 would work, then stop, then #2 and #5 would work and stop working. So that was a challenge. It took us probably 45 minutes to get our Gautrain Gold cards. This is definitely something that needs to be worked on. The most frustrating thing however was the lack of support staff there to fix the problems and assist customers. Of the staff that were present most looked like Executives and many were blurting out French praise at one another instead of trying to assist people. The remainder of the staff were selling, out of a red bag, R300 pre-loaded travel cards, not trying to fix the pay-point systems that sold them to us. I saw a lot of cash changing hands instead of going in to pay-points.
Going down deep in to the heart of Sandton. Way down.
That’s the bad, and let me say, that was all the bad, right there in a single paragraph.
For the rest of it i was overwhelmed, moved and extremely proud to have participated in such a momentous occasion for Gauteng, South Africa and Africa. Sorry Ivo, but I gushed didn’t I? Let me just make a quick comment on Ivo’s column over at the Daily Maverick, here’s a little excerpt from his column:
On another occasion, I was driven around Johannesburg and Pretoria by a lady who waited at various locations for me to complete my business. I paid for that convenience; a rental car may have been cheaper. It would have been a right pain, however, to have been dependent on public transport.
So, am I a masochist? No, I’m not, and my reasons for preferring a private taxi go way beyond mere sympathy for a hard-working man or woman who earns an honest living without relying on government handouts.
It sounds to me that Ivo is neither a masochist nor a pessimist. I think Ivo is a little bit of a travel elitist and somewhat lazy when it comes to his travels. He would rather be chauffeured around town in a private car (often a Mercedes) costing who knows how much, than travel with the masses, drive a car, park and go to meetings while directing himself around town. Sorry Ivo, it sounds to me like the Gautrain was just not built for people like yourself.
Back to the story. We arrived at the Marlboro station and were told by a very polite staff member that we would be at the station for exactly 28 seconds to allow passengers on and off at the station. We left exactly 28 seconds later. Exactly. In under ten minutes we arrived at the airport. Done.
I stopped in to the Mugg & Bean with my friends, had a quick coffee and bite to eat and hopped on the next train in (which arrive approximately every 12 minutes). Ten minutes later we were back in the Sandton station, in our cars and leaving for home.
Some say that the cost – R10 travel card, R100 one way – is a bit extreme. Well I think I’m a little bit of a travel elitist too because I would rather pay R100 to get to the airport in under 15 minutes guaranteed than leave 3 hours before a flight in fear of the traffic and parking situations ruining my flight.
That, as they say, is that. My experience was not without its flaws but I do believe that there is potential for the Gautrain to become invaluable to travels both frequent and infrequent.
Do yourself a favour and give it a whirl when you next need to be at the airport or fetch someone. You wont regret seeing your city in a way you’ve never seen it before; from the seat of a very sexy train hurtling across town at 160km/hour.
Nic chilling comfortably on the Gautrain back in to Sandton
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