Hanover Park mother turns scholar transport dream into growing Cape Flats business | News24
Over the past eight years, a mother from Hanover Park has scaled her scholar transport business from three children to more than 30 pupils, ensuring safe travel for children and peace of mind for parents.
Diane Constable’s journey into her current venture almost started by accident in 2018, when a neighbour asked her to take her three children to school.
“I then asked myself: How would I want my own children to travel? Safely, calmly and with someone who cares,” she said.
“Parents entrust their children to me. So I must care for them the way I care for my own. If you can make a change in one child’s life, you have done a lot.”
And so DCS Shuttle and Projects was born – a business built on her children’s names and the legacy she hopes to leave them.
Today, the business transports more than 30 pupils, from preschool to Grade 11, across the Cape Flats every day – with a mother’s caring touch.
READ | One taxi at a time: How a Northern Cape woman is defying patriarchy in the transport sector
Before starting this journey, she had worked as a facilitator in the Expanded Public Works Programme, where she delivered workshops on substance abuse, domestic violence and leadership.
After she transitioned into the transport sector, she decided to be a supportive figure in the lives of the children she transports, informed by her understanding of the circumstances in which many of them are brought up on the Cape Flats.
“When I saw what some children went through in their homes, I realised they needed someone who listened and cared.
“Every morning I tell them, ‘Today is today. Yesterday has gone. What are you going to do about today?’ Not everyone feels good early in the morning, so I try to inspire them,” she said.
Securing her operating permit involved many visits to police stations, municipal offices and vehicle inspection centres, and it was not without its challenges. In the early years, she was told her first vehicle was too old and that she was disqualified.
“There were moments when I wanted to give up, but something kept telling me that I have to do this.”
Now operating a schedule every day, Constable decided to pay it forward by helping her neighbour from all those years ago to get her permit, too; and now she also operates multiple vehicles.
Constable has since joined the Discovery Safe Journey to School programme, which aims to promote safer scholar transport through roadworthiness compliance, driver licensing, regular health screenings and safe driving behaviour.
READ | Transport, jobs and Checkers Sixty60: The 13 winners from Western Cape innovation awards
The programme was launched in 2014 with Afrika Tikkun and has grown to include more than 1 000 drivers and 28 000 children in Gauteng and the Western Cape.
Constable said she appreciates the accountability the programme offers her and that “it [benefits her] a great deal”.
Looking ahead, she plans to grow her business by diversifying her offering to include university shuttles and delivery services.
“I need to show my children that this is how you build something compliant, sustainable and ready for the future.
“If it is just a dream and you do nothing, it stays a dream. But if you pursue it and work hard, it can become an empire.”
If you have an inspiring story to tell, email [email protected].
News24’s free audiobook for subscribers this month is Wisani and the Bafokeng Brothers by Thandi Moagi.
From Babita Deokaran to Mpho Mafole, whistleblowers remain at the forefront of News24’s intensive investigative work.
Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.