This year’s National Arts Festival has seen the introduction of a revamped Hop On Hop Off transport service, or the Hopper Bus, as it is affectionately known by Festinos.
This year’s National Arts Festival has seen the introduction of a revamped Hop On Hop Off transport service, or the Hopper Bus, as it is affectionately known by Festinos.
In previous years, the Hopper minibuses stopped at various points around town and passengers paid cash for every journey.
This year, visitors can buy a Hopper pass from information desks which enables them to use the system per day or for the full 15 days.
National Arts Festival CEO Tony Lankester sees it as much better than the old system, which he said had a rigid schedule, which was not convenient for the passengers.
Tickets had to be bought while boarding the bus and the service stopped at 11pm, which was unfair on passengers who were planning to watch shows late at night.
“There were two problems with the old system it irritated people because of the rigid schedule and that it sometimes ran late and that the times weren’t flexible,” he said.
The routes are planned around the Festival venues with each venue being a five minute walk from each stop. A bus stops every 20 to 30 minutes.
One of the Hopper drivers, Glory Liwani, who works on the green route which includes Victoria Girls’ High School and Princess Alice Hall, says that the system works, but he has noticed that passengers are often confused by the colour coding and the routes.
He says that out-of-towners appear to like the system while local people are finding it difficult to adjust to. Monde Nyovane, who was familiar with the old Hopper system, says that the new system is efficient, cheap and simple, but complains of having to walk long distances to buy passes.
“The ticket system is cheaper when you are consistently on the move, but when you are moving to just one place, it works out to be expensive,” he says.
He adds that the new system should have been phased in gradually and that as a visitor, he was not informed of the changes to the system properly. Anna-Karien Otto, who lives in Grahamstown, also has serious issues with the new Hopper system, saying that every time she wants to get a lift, it’s running late.
“I’ve tried to catch a Hopper six times so far this Festival and I haven’t been been able to get one even though I get to the stops on time.” She said she had experienced this on Monday night after watching a movie at the Settlers Monument.
“The movie ended at 9.35pm so the next Hopper was supposed to arrive at 10pm. By 10.15, it still hadn’t arrived and I had to call my friend for a lift.
I was waiting with eight other Festival employees, one of whom was was carrying cash from the box office,” said Otto. She added that the maps are difficult to read, the hubs are not clearly indicated and the vehicles themselves are not clearly marked.
