APM Buses - A ride you'll never forget...

So I went to Knysna for the Easter Holidays, had a great relaxing time there. Beautiful place I must say...

Time for me to leave and get back to reality, so on Sunday I wake up and book a bus for Monday 21 April 2025 departing at 22:45 Knysna to King William's Town.

Monday evening comes and I'm at the pick-up point. The bus gets there at 22:40 so I'm kind of impressed because you always hear stories about buses never being on time. So a gentleman (so I thought at the time) hops out the bus, I approach him and I greet him. His response is, "uyaphi" (where are you going) in a Zulu accent. I respond, "King William's Town." He opens up a luggage compartment on the side of the bus and tells me to put my bag in and I do just as he instructed. At this point in time I'm not really paying much attention because I'm used to "black on black poor service" and I'm not an easily triggered person, it takes alot to get me worked up. Okay, for those of you that don't know what "black on black poor service" is. It's when black people serve another black person with an attitude or just generally what would be deemed as unacceptable service. For example: I'm black I'm in a que at a till point in a grocery store and the white person in front of me pays and gets their purchased goods packed into a plastic bag for them by the black person serving them. Now it's my turn to pay, I pay and instead of my stuff getting packed for me, I get the plastic bag handed to me so I can pack my stuff myself.

I'm expecting him to ask for my ticket, he doesn't. He just closed the luggage compartment and started walking towards the bus door without saying anything. I do what anyone else would do, I follow him. Little did I know what I was about to encounter. This guy gets on the bus, I get on as well. The first welcome I got is South African Gospel Music blasting out the speakers like it was some church trip to some revival. Then followed a pungent smell of feet and sweat, I gagged because the smell was so strong. I'm told to sit in the 1st row of seats on the door side which is across from the seats behind the driver. It's dark on the bus, I take a seat where I was told to sit. Just as we are driving off the cabin lights come on, I look to my right there is a guy on a karate mattress and a sleeping bag sleeping on the floor between the row of seats I'm seated and where the driver is seated. Now this dude is not inside the sleeping bag, he has unzipped it and is using it as a blanket. So he pulls up his sleeping bag/blanket and that's when I notice he has no shoes on. Okay, that's where the smell is coming from.

Remember me mentioning Gospel Music blaring? Yes back to that. So there are people travelling together and they are trying to have a conversation, naturally they are going to have to raise their voices to hear each other over the music. The driver turns down the volume and starts shouting at the 2 passengers in Zulu saying, "hey you are making a noise do think this is your house, are you mad can't you see other people are trying to sleep? Keep quiet!" Now I'm starting to get irritated because I can see that this guy just doesn't give a f@#k because he is talking about people trying to sleep but he has his Gospel on blast.

So we stop in Jeffrey's Bay at an Astron service station Gospel is still loud he is getting out his seat and jumping the console separating the drivers ****pit and the passengers section and saying something but no one can hear what he's saying. People see him exiting the bus so they just start getting off as well. Some go purchase things others go releave themselves and I'm having a cigarette. Then I get back on the bus. There's a lady carrying a baby sitting in my row but across from me behind the drivers seat, talking to the dude that was sleeping on the floor. Telling him what he is doing is unacceptable and he is putting his job on the line by sleeping where he is sleeping because anyone of the people on the bus could report it. He's response was and I quote, "have you ever seen where we are expected to sleep? There is no way I am getting in there, I'm not a bag." Thing is he said it in isiXhosa and if you know anything you say in isiXhosa can sound as if you're being rude just by the tone you use. It's the one language that has never been accused of being romantic... Passengers are getting back on the bus now, then I see Mr Sleeping bag jump into the drivers seat and the other driver gets into the sleeping bag and proceeds to fall asleep. Now the Gospel has changed to Choral Music, we went from going to a church revival to a choir competition.

I could have maybe just ignored everything else that I mentioned and went on with my life and pegged APM buses as a never again situation but when you start putting people's lives in danger... That's where I draw a line and do something about it. This driver was driving and fast but on his phone what's apping and Facebooking while driving. I took pictures and a video of this dude. Actually I took recordings of everything, the rattling windows on the bus, the loud music and pictures and videos of the things the drivers were doing. Too bad I couldn't capture the essence of the smell, unfortunately it's the only thing I can't prove.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, last I checked it's ******* to drive in flip-flops in South Africa but both drivers were driving in them with passengers on board...