What is happening in the Western Cape in the Bus Hire Industry - are bus and coach companies really in the worst financial position ever during the last 10 years?

In general this statement seems to be true; it is a fact that at least four reputable coach operators have had to either sell their businesses, or sell shares to large holding companies, or sell a substantial part of their fleet in order to survive financially - or at least to buy some time for some or other miracle to happen. Where did things go wrong then? At the turn of the century it was like arriving in heaven if you were in the bus and coach business. One could buy a luxury tour bus for R1.8m and get a R600 000 "cash-back" subsidy from the government - to help entrepreneurs get on their feet and use the funds as operating capital until the business was sustainable.
It seemed there was enough work for everyone that purchased these subsidized buses with the nice fat cash back, plus tourism was on an upward curve and credit easily available - whether in the form of overdrafts from banks to aid entrepreneurs even further with their cash flow, or suppliers of fuel giving extra lenient terms.
On the surface everything looked fantastic - in the Western Cape alone a R100 million was floating around in cash backs / subsidies - a successful new South Africa was at long last a reality in this industry! Well, at least for the better part of the decade things were looking rosy and after tourism started its downward spiral in 2008, there was at least the expectation of the 2010 Soccer World Cup to keep the boat floating,or rather the bus on the road, with strange looking contracts being dished out around every corner - and bankers not wanting to spoil the party; the World Cup was the life line in the midst of a hard hitting global recession for most bus and coach operators nationally - even the ones with the reputable names.

To cut a long story short, it was just a matter of time for all of the above to take a turn for the worst.