Commuters flock to Thokoza Park Station to catch their morning rides into the city. And the cheap tickets and efficient service get them there faster, with extra cash in their pockets.

The day has started for Rea Vaya

THE noise is neither too loud nor too soft; it is just enough to hear from a distance that there are people in the station.

They talk about all sorts of things, from weekend soccer matches to complaints about yet another week of having to wake up early for work. Many are still half asleep, and attempts to greet them are met with a nod that seems to say the morning journey is still getting into gear.

It is just after 6am at the Thokoza Park Rea Vaya Station and the station is already full with passengers going to work and to school. Nhlanhla Masondo is from Senaoane, about three or four kilometers away from Thokoza Park.

Masondo, a City Varsity student, walks to and from Thokoza Park Station every weekday morning and afternoon. Although there is a Rea Vaya station close to where he lives, Masondo prefers Thokoza Park Station because the trip from here to the centre of Johannesburg is cheaper. "It is R9,50 from the ISO Garage to Johannesburg but it's only R6 from Thokoza Park to Johannesburg … I save R3."

For every six to eight kilometres Masondo walks - to and from the station - he saves R6. This adds up to R154 a month, which is more than half of what he spends on transport monthly; it's a decent saving.

Happy passengers

Cost also motivates another passenger, Nqobile Maphalala. He prefers to use Rea Vaya from Thokoza Park Station because the tickets are easy to get and are cheaper than the minibus taxi fare. "It is only R6 from here to Johannesburg, it is the cheapest price you can get," he points out.

For Fernando Khumbani, who sells the Sowetan, The Star and Daily Sun newspapers, Thokoza Park Station has rejuvenated his business. He is now guaranteed a large number of potential customers that walk past his display of newspapers, cigarettes and biscuits on their way into the station every morning.

Khumbani, who used to sell newspapers at the traffic circle up the road from the station, says that for the first time in the three years that he has been a newspaper vendor, his business is flourishing. All that he has to do is go to the station in time for the morning rush. "It gets very busy at 6am and that's when I sell most of my papers."

Across the road from the station is a park; next to it is a parking lot that is always full of vehicles during the day. Khumbani says these cars belong to people who take the Rea Vaya bus into town from Thokoza Park Station. They like to take advantage of the cheap and efficient Rea Vaya service which, unlike their cars, does not get stuck in traffic because of the special bus lane.

The station not only services people from its surrounding areas; it also gets passengers from Protea Glen and Naledi, who catch feeder buses to Thokoza Park, where they can take the trunk route to the CBD.

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