Counting tickets, managing cash flow, and keeping an eye on any unruly passengers is all in a day’s work for Rea Vaya station ambassadors.

Motlalepula Motlhale, a Rea Vaya ambassador at the Doornfontein Campus Station

WAKING up at 3.45am each day and reporting for duty at 5am is no bother for Motlalepula Motlhale, a Rea Vaya ambassador at the Doornfontein Campus Station.

Motlhale has been with Rea Vaya since the first day of operation and her passion to serve the company well, comes from understanding that it is in the hands of its employees to ensure that it grows from strength to strength.

"I hate being late for work so I make sure that I always clock in before or at 5am, but never after 5am," she says.

The first thing she does when she gets to work is check how many tickets are left and whether this figure corresponds with the number left by the previous shift. If the number of tickets counted is the same as the number mentioned in the previous shift, she issues a specific amount of tickets to the cashier who will be on duty during her shift.

Then she has to make sure that there is enough money in the petty cash register – it should never have less than R100. "After the petty cash, I fill in a shift report, write how many tickets were issued to the cashier, check if all the doors are working and then prepare to receive the first bus from Soweto at around 5.30am."

Since most commuters through the station are students at the University of Johannesburg, it is at its busiest in the afternoon, when they are heading home. Motlhale admits that working with students can be challenging because they are impatient and want things to be done at the click of their fingers.

For example, they become unruly if a bus is running late. When a bus is late and the control centre has not yet sent information to explain the delay, some students start demanding their money back and even swearing at the station staff.

"This is one of the things that make my job challenging because as a leader, I now have to try and calm the situation." But this is nothing Motlhale can’t handle. Another occasional issue is the difficulty some of her male colleagues have with a female leader.

Motlhale has not always been a station ambassador, but has worked her way up the ladder. She started out as a volunteer in 2009, which she did for six months before she was promoted to marshal. Her hard work paid off in November 2010, when she was again promoted, this time to the position of station ambassador.

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