Commuters in Johannesburg Set Four Trains on Fire Wednesday

Many people throughout Philadelphia, PA felt the effects of SEPTA's strike. Many of the SEPTA buses were not running and the commuter trains were rarely on-time. I experienced this first-hand several times over the weekend when I commuted back and forth between Bryn Mawr and Center City for a Model United Nations conference. The first night I ended up running to catch the train, thinking it would be on-time, but when I got there, I found out it would be 25 minutes late arriving to the station.

In Johannesburg, South Africa, a similar thing is happening with their passenger train systems. The workers aren't on strike, but rather there have been consistent service delays due to technical faults. Less trains are running and one route has been completely shut down. The commuters who use the trains have become fed up with the delays and have recently begun setting the trains on fire. Late on Wednesday, commuters set four trains on fire in protest to the trains not getting to their destinations on-time. This is the second time in one week that commuters have set the trains ablaze. The commuters are being asked to find alternate means of transportation. Most of the commuters don't own cars and usually rely on the trains to get them to where they need to be. Taxis charged four times the normal amount Wednesday night to take people home who were stranded because of the fires.

Overall, I'm thankful that the people here in Philadelphia stayed calm during the strike. It could have taken a turn much like the situation in Johannesburg. Thankfully, it didn't.