Creative artists have given four Rea Vaya bus stations at the Library Gardens in downtown Jozi character, with unique, meaningful paintings that describe stories of life in the city.

Artwork by Ernest Bellingan on the Library Gardens Eastbound Station

LIKE post, people travel back and forth, from one point to another. We cover great distances in order to meet our destinies, to go where we want or need to. The journey is never quite complete.

This is according to Hans Foster, the artist responsible for the art painting at the Rea Vaya's Library Gardens Eastbound West Station.

The painting is of post office buildings and according to the artist, Rea Vaya delivers on its mandate of providing reliable, effective and comfortable public transport in the same smooth and reliable way that mails are usually delivered.

The station is one of the four Library Gardens stations, two being on the west side and two on the east side. The westbound stations carry traffic going out of Joburg to Soweto, while the stations on the westbound welcomes traffic from Soweto to the city.

Just a few meters away is another eastbound station, with a different painting by a different artist. This artwork by Ernest Bellingan shows two males sitting under a huge tree and enjoying what looks like an indigenous game of morabaraba.

The Library Gardens station on a quiet day

Bellingan explained that the artwork is meant to make people think about the future and the contribution of trees in the city.

"Imagine the future," Bellingan said. "Some of the trees in Joburg have been around for centuries, and may still be there for our children to enjoy one day. Imagine us today, strolling or sitting in the shade of these same trees, meeting old friends or perhaps even making new ones."

The art at westbound east station uses stark black and white comic graphics, together with dynamic angles and disjointed panels to evoke a kind of ironic, film noir of being late for work, according to the artist, Richard Penn.

"Central to this narrative is a bus playfully cast as the hero, who has to work hard to gain acceptance and fulfill its destiny," he said.

At the westbound west station, the artwork is done by Paul Molete, who explained that he was inspired by a street kid he met on the streets of Joburg. He shared that the kid came to him to ask for money, but he only offered him something to eat as he feared that, if he gave the child money, he might use it to buy drugs.

Station ambassador Asanda Cebisa at the Westbound Station

Molete told the child why he was not giving him money, but the child, according to Molete, responded that he does not care as he is not threatened by life.

According to Rejoice Nyathi, a station ambassador at the eastbound station, they are most busy in the mornings when people come into the city for work. "From 7am to 10am we are so busy, but in the afternoon we are not that busy, the only busy route in the evening is the Braamfontein," she explained.

The ambassador at the westbound station, Asanda Cebisa, shared that they are most busy in the evening when people are leaving work to return home. The station is most busy from 3.30pm until 6.45pm. The last batches of buses pass the station at around 9.20pm, according to Cebisa.

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