The anarchy caused by the crisis in the transport industry could end when the new Transport Act comes into force
Glenda Daniels Taxi and bus wars will become a thing of the horrible past when the new integrated plan for an efficient public transport system, the government’s new National Land Transport Transition Act, is implemented. The Act, which will regulate public transport, aims to make passenger road transport safe, affordable, efficient and environmentally friendly. Keys to this whole process are commuter needs, and how to resolve bus-taxi wars. There are about 120E000 taxis and about 12E000 buses operating nationally, which have over the past decade been at war, leading to countless deaths and injuries. Just this year, in Khayelitsha, seven bus drivers have been killed in the war between taxi drivers and Golden Arrow over lucrative routes. Minister of Transport Dullah Omar told the Mail & Guardian this week: “These plans address the underlying cause of problems, the violence crisis in the transport industry. Mini buses are unregulated and informal, there are problems of saturated routes and tough competition over routes. This has bred the conflict.”
The whole way in which buses, trains and taxis are regulated will change with the new act, says Jane Barrett, national policy co-ordinator for the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu). The Act emphasises integrated planning, the end of fragmentation, decentralised operating and aims to bring taxi owners and bus drivers closer together, generally tightening the embattled urban transport system. Integrated planning involves planning with the housing department so the urban-sprawl trend comes to an end and high-density transport corridors take its place. In addition, changes will be made to how transport policy between provinces and the national level takes place. In the past public transport provision has been split by different layers of government, making the allocation of subsidies and other decision-making processes difficult. In practice local authorities will set up transport authorities (TAs) which will investigate what commuter needs are. These will be done in report form, which will be used in planning numbers and what type of taxis and buses are needed in an area. While TAs will investigate local needs and service provision, councils will report to the national transport department. TAs will also put out tenders for particular routes and taxis will be brought into the fold by also bidding with buses for routes. If a bid is won, that bus or taxi company will receive a government subsidy, which will bring about more equity in subsidy handling. The new tendering plan is likely to change the ownership pattern within the transport industry. Barrett says you’re likely to have bus companies using smaller vehicles and taxis having buses too. This goes with taxi recapitalisation, and two extreme ends of the market will blur.
However, labour has concerns with the tendering system. “Large numbers of workers tend to lose jobs, and contracts are often awarded to companies which break the law in respect of minimum standards for bus workers. “In addition, tendering creates job insecurity as contracts are often short-term ones. Also strong local government administration is needed to ensure that there is no manipulation and corruption of the tender process,” says Barrett.
‘What Satawu will try to do is ensure service delivery without lowering the cost of labour. We are trying to achieve minimum commitment from the minister to extend the bargaining council agreement to all non- parties like taxi owners,” says Barrett. The union aims to protect jobs, and to get the same conditions in new companies, otherwise tendering will just mean cost cutting to labour, she says. Another problem with the Act, says Satawu, is that it requires
municipalities and provinces to financially ring fence (corporatise) their bus services if they want to qualify for state subsidies. Municipal services will have to tender for routes in the same way that privately owned companies do.
However, the union argues that where a service is already being
provided by local or provincial government, they should continue to be allowed to do so on a subsidised basis. They should not have to compete in the same way as the private companies. Omar says union concerns are legitimate regarding job losses but he adds that part of the recapitalisation process “which is part of an empowerment process, means that opportunities will be created for workers”. “Training will be made available, and as the tourism industry grows, we hope that taxis and mini buses will move into this market,” he says. Does the government have the capacity to implement the ambitious plan? Omar says that while there is a capacity problem, the department is developing programmes to deal with this. Training for bus operators on how to tender and how to keep books and records is taking place. In the longer term, people will be trained on how to run retail outfits where they can sell spare parts, for instance. “All this won’t happen overnight. Violence won’t stop overnight, but I’m confident that as we implement, we can have a peaceful and efficient public transport system,” Omar says.