Johannesburg — THE Passenger Rail Agency of SA, a commuter rail parastatal that owns Autopax Passenger Services, has not yet received funding for the training of 1400 bus drivers for the Soccer World Cup, with less than than 100 working days before the soccer spectacular kicks off.

This has raised concern as Autopax will operate about 570 buses, currently being built, on behalf of the Department of Transport and the world soccer body Fifa, linking cities and soccer venues. Fifa requires bus operators to allocate 2,2 drivers per bus, meaning that Autopax needs 1400 drivers.

It is not clear whether Autopax will be able to train so many drivers, while also giving them adequate driving experience in the lead-up to the World Cup, given that it takes up to six months to train a new driver.

Autopax CEO Saki Zamxaka said last week that the company needed tens of millions of rand to train drivers. He said the company had applied to the government for additional grants. A decision was expected in February.

Zamxaka said the company had started recruiting and training drivers. He said the company was also trying to get bus operators to contract out experienced drivers to Autopax.

Jackie Walters, a transport economist at the University of Johannesburg and strategic adviser to the South African Bus Operators' Association, warned last week that the fact that the government had not approved funding for the driver training was a huge concern.

Walters said intercity road transport during the World Cup played an important logistical role in the presentation of the soccer event, which is expected to attract 500000 visitors.

"Supporters will have to travel to various venues by road and air, with bus transport playing a crucial role. Training drivers is a crucial function."

Walters said training new drivers was a long and involved process. From the time a new driver was recruited, training could take three to six months.

The recruitment process alone has a low throughput -- experience has shown that for every 100 applicants, only 11 complete the programme and end up as drivers, Walters said.

Training existing bus and truck drivers (contracted from other operators) could be a less involved process than when training new drivers.

But these experienced drivers would have to be trained on the operation of complex new buses.

Walters cautioned that Autopax might not get enough experienced drivers from the existing potential pool as these drivers would be required by the existing bus companies to undertake their normal operations.

Existing bus operators have a pool of standby drivers, who step in when drivers are ill, do not report for work or are on leave.

The difficulty, Walters said, was that the existing bus operators still had to render commuter transport services and would in all likelihood also be involved in the World Cup, especially at the host- city level.