Taxi operators are driving old, unsafe vehicles because of the government’s plans to recapitalise the industry, the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) said this week.
The organisation said it was worried about the safety of taxi commuters and drivers.
Santaco said its operators would not invest in new, safer vehicles because they would be illegal in four years when the government’s taxi recapitalisation programme is introduced.
The organisation appealed to the government to hasten the recapitalisation process.
Santaco president Thomas Muofhe accused the government of leaving taxi operators in a Catch-22 situation.
”We can’t expect our members to buy brand-new vehicles that will be out of service in 2006,” he said.
The programme involves replacing about 130 000 16-seater minibuses with larger 18-seater and 35-seater buses. Taxi owners who scrap their old taxis will be given an allowance that can be used to finance the new approved vehicles.
Sanctaco also said it would work with the government to help implement the planned smart-card system that commuters will use to pay fares.
Minister of Transport Dullah Omar said the agreement would hasten the taxi recapitalisation process. ”We hope to have the new vehicles on the road in the first quarter of 2003.”
The group said it was negotiating with the government to allow the taxi industry to have a greater input into fare collection, the issuing of smart cards and taxi monitoring.
”It has always been our view that the industry has to be directly involved in this process. [The] government [had] a different view. This was a thorny issue for some time,” Muofhe said.
”Now government has finally agreed to involve the taxi industry. This is a victory for us.”
But Muofhe warned that recapitalising the taxi fleet would still impose difficulties on the group’s members.
”The harsh reality of the present situation is that the age of our vehicles fleet is becoming increasingly unsafe,” he said, adding that it was expensive to maintain the old vehicles.
Santaco said it would soon train its members to use the new payment system. Though the plans are to roll out the new vehicles and the smart-card system as a package, the electronic payment could be implemented before the taxi recapitalisation programme, Muofhe said.
Ndivhuwo Mabaya, assistant manager liaison at the national Department of Transport, said Santaco’s concerns would be considered. ”[The] government is committed to supplying safe and sustainable transport to all South Africans. We are aware of Santaco’s concerns. By engaging in dialogue with them we can address and sort out the differences,” he said.