Johannesburg — WITH less than three months to go before the Soccer Word Cup kicks off, Autopax Passenger Services said yesterday that it had not yet received money to train bus drivers who will operate a hi-tech intercity bus system during the tournament.

A subsidiary of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA, Autopax will run 570 buses on behalf of the Department of Transport and world soccer body Fifa, transporting fans between cities and soccer venues.

Autopax CEO Saki Zamxaka said the company needed millions of rands to train drivers and hire additional bus operators, but declined to elaborate.

Fifa required bus operators to allocate 2,2 drivers per bus, meaning Autopax needed 1400 drivers.

Zamxaka told Business Day yesterday the funding request was put through to the transport department but, due to funding prioritisation, "no funding has been received yet".

He said the company was in discussions with the department over funding and that there was a clear agreement that driver training was an "important element in delivering a successful operation during the event".

Transport department spokesman Logan Maistry said the department was still negotiating with the Treasury about the funding for the bus drivers.

"We are hopeful that we will get clarity as soon as possible," he said.

Zamxaka said Autopax had started training a "significant number" of new drivers, using its own resources, but this had put financial strain on the business.

"We plan to train the new drivers before the end of April so that they get a minimum of 100 hours' driving experience," he said.

To secure experienced drivers, Zamxaka said Autopax had made a proposal to bus operators asking them to contract out their excess drivers to the state-owned company and indicating that the company would pay operators for this.

He said the company would sign contracts with bus operators "any time now" and could get up to 300 drivers immediately.