South Africa is to take a further step away from Europe and towards its siblings in the East. Johannesburg and Pretoria will soon have ”tuk-tuks” — the three-wheeled motor vehicles that swarm through Asian cities such as Bangkok and Mumbai — buzzing along its streets.
And the Johannesburg city centre is set to feature the Asian-style three-wheeled pedal-driven vehicles known as pedi-cabs.
Gauteng is to follow the Asian example to accommodate its growing tourist market as well as to provide alternative transport for the Soccer World Cup in four years’ time.
Tuk-tuks, which can accommodate four passengers despite their small size, are extensively used in Bangkok for transporting tourists, while in many Indian cities they are the taxis of choice for locals.
”In a few weeks, we will gazette the issuing of licences to tuk-tuks and pedi-cabs as an alternative public transport method,” Ignatius Jacobs, Gauteng minister for public transport, roads and works, told the Mail & Guardian this week.
Jacobs could not say how long the licensing process would take and when he expected the vehicles to appear on the province’s roads.
The introduction of the tuk-tuks comes after entrepreneurs started investigating alternative means of transport for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, given that existing transport facilities are certain to be overloaded.
The entrepreneurs approached the government to provide the necessary legal framework, and Jacobs’s department decided to run a pilot study to investigate what legislation and licensing procedures the new industry would need.
More research is also needed to determine the optimal number of tuk-tuks that can be licensed.
The government plans to impose strict safety measures on the tuk-tuk industry, involving regular safety inspections, as the Road Accident Fund will not cover these vehicles. The South African Bureau of Standards will also be approached to set standards for the manufacture of the vehicles.
In addition to the tuk-tuks, licences will also be considered for pedi-cabs. A would-be operator, the Hamba Lula Pedal Cab project approached the provincial government to introduce 20 pedi-cabs into the Johannesburg CBD in a four-week pilot project, with the cooperation of all authorities.
Hamba Lula said it would recruit drivers from among unemployed people of between 18 and 30 years of age. It added that the vehicles would lessen city pollution and create a tourist attraction.
Routes will be developed to link different parts of the CBD. The pilot study will focus on servicing Park station, the Metro Mall, the Carlton Centre and Faraday station.
Pedi-cabs are popular in Asian cities such as Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, where, with motorcycles, they make up most of the traffic.
Currently, tuk-tuks and pedi-cabs are not included in the integrated transport plans of Gauteng municipalities, but local authorities have told the provincial government that they would be interested in incorporating them into their transport plans.