Horrible driver experience on Citiliner Plus

I took the Pretoria to Durban Citiliner Plus bus on 04/09/2025. I got on in Midrand. Nothing out of the ordinary at first except the bus being 15 minutes late, with an sms notification prior to this. Spent what I thought was longer than necessary at Park Station picking up more passengers. Well. We moved.

The bus headed for Vereeniging when a few more people came on board. Our problems started when we left that station.

The route took us through a horrible stretch of road that was narrow and had plenty potholes. That's where I first noticed the driver's horrible and risky driving. Trucks oncoming and we had a few scary moments. What a horrible experience that didn't end there. Passengers started complaining and there was anxiety amongst all of us. I immediately wrote 2 emails to Greyhound's Customer Care, and I am aware that at least one passenger made a call to their centre. I do not know what was said to them, but I still haven't received a single response to my emails.

It simply got worse and there were a few near misses, including the bus swerving irrationally on the lane between Montrose and Ladysmith. When we finally got to PMB I decided to go speak to the driver while he was smoking outside as passengers were getting off at this destination. He dismissed me and simply said he was driving at 100km. This was not true.

The last stretch between PMB and DBN was bound to get worse as it got dark. It's a dangerous road with construction in parts. The most nerve-wrecking experience of my life!

I will follow this up. You do not behave like that when carrying people's lives. I also noticed that this driver was working alone throughout the trip, responsible for bags, onboarding passengers, driving and all other coordination. This was the first time I saw this. Does it make sense to have one driver and no assistance on a drive that takes close to 10 hours? The company itself must be held accountable, but this does not excuse the driver's behaviour.

Advice: stay away from this company. They don't care about your life but only money!