Tumisang Kgaboesele is the CEO of bus company Africa People Mover. Picture: Tebogo Letsie/City PressWhen he presented his turnaround plan to his employer and it was turned down, he didn’t realise it was not the end of the line, but rather the beginning of greater things to come.
“I was later recruited by Lucky Montana to be part of a team that founded the Passenger Rail Agency of SA [Prasa], and I worked on this project between 2007 and 2014. During my time there, I headed several divisions, including property, rail and Autopax, the bus service.”To be relevant and to ensure long-term sustainability, somebody had to be bold and say we had too many people working there and too many assets that we were not utilising.
“Problems at Autopax are no different from what is happening at SAA, Telkom, the SABC and others – cost structures are unsustainable. There is just no way you can generate R10 a month but spend R20,” Kgaboesele says. “That is the offer he made and we signed a shareholders’ agreement. The real work started in June 2014, when we applied for the permit, put together a business plan and started looking for funders.”Kgaboesele was starting the company from a zero base, and Standard Bank agreed to give him R26 million to buy six coaches, but there was a condition attached – he needed to have 10% of that to access the facility.
Kgaboesele is today proud to say that his company is one of the best in the country and has managed to gradually penetrate the lower end of the market, providing a quality service for affordable fares.
Please assist with APM BUS emergency number A bus left from Mount Frere and crashed - we don't know where they are and no Ambulance in an hour or so My aunt is on that bus
Does this this business have permits because taxis runs without permit
This bus operates cross border as well. Why the hush hush
Very comfy , I use it often whenever I travel to the Eastern Cape 👍.