June 4, 2007
By Lesego Madumo
THREE City services have won The Star newspaper's Your Choice Awards, for Best Bus Company, Best Art Gallery, and Best Family Outing.
Metrobus, the City's public transport service, was tops with readers, who voted it the Best Bus Company in Joburg. The Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) and the Johannesburg Zoo were also winners, voted Best Art Gallery and Best Family Outing, respectively.
Greyhound was the runner-up bus company. Runner-up in the best art gallery category was the Standard Bank Art Gallery, and in the best family outing group, Gold Reef City was the second choice.
The competition was run in the newspaper over six weeks, with ballot papers published every day. Readers used the ballot papers to nominate their favourite services in a variety of categories. It comprised three main sections, namely Best Service and Shopping; Best Food, Drink and Entertainment; and Best Places and Things.
The results were published in a supplement in the newspaper on Wednesday, 30 May.
The Johannesburg zoo was voted the best family outing
Metrobus
"We are humbled by this acknowledgement from
The Star readers and Johannesburg residents," said the member of the mayoral committee for transport, Rehana Moosajee. "This accolade will go a long way in motivating all at Metrobus to continue to strive to serve our commuters with distinction. We can't be complacent. [We have] to put an extra effort to do more to please our customers."
It has introduced more than 128 new buses on its routes, as part of the 2010 Fifa World Cup™ transport initiative. Six of the new buses have been tailored to transport disabled commuters. Metrobus is part of the City's Rea Vaya strategy that has been designed to reform public transport.
Plans are also in the pipeline to introduce large new passenger buses, which will travel on dedicated bus lanes across the city.
"The new service will present city residents with a fast, cheap, safe and reliable alternative to the use of private vehicles," Moosajee said.
Joburg aspires to have a world-class public transport system in place for the soccer showpiece. "An efficient transport system will be one of the important legacies of 2010, and Metrobus is a key player in this plan."
Joburg zoo
Jenny Gray, the Joburg zoo chief executive, said the zoo was delighted that readers and Joburgers had chosen the zoo as their best family outing. "We believe the zoo is the nicest place [in town], and we are glad [readers] agree."
Gray said she would like to let Joburgers know that the zoo appreciated the accolade, and that, "a new zoo farmyard has been erected. If you liked the first Rietvlei Zoo Farm, you'll love this one too."
The head of JAG, Clive Kellner, also shared his sentiments: "We are extremely excited about this prospect. It's an indication that we have worked hard to achieve, given that we don't have enough resources. This is a big achievement [for the gallery.]"
The award was an indication of the world-class exhibitions and programmes that the JAG brought to Joburg, and that the gallery took public service seriously.
Kellner said the award had motivated the JAG to continue providing the best service to the public.
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