The route to safer taxis
14 October 2005
Transport Minister Jeff Radebe has issued 20 operating licences to Free State taxi operators who applied to have their radius permits converted.
The conversion is part of the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme rollout plan, which aims to overhaul the country's taxi industry and replace the existing unsafe taxi fleet with new, safer and more reliable vehicles.
The government will initially remove some 10 000 unroadworthy minibus taxis listed as "death traps" from the country's roads by December 2006. Eighty percent of South Africa's public transport must be compliant with new safety requirements by 2009.
The new operating licences mark a new era for the country's taxi industry, Radebe said. Given past conflict over taxi routes, the licences will help regulate and add value to the industry.
"The violence that has dominated the industry has unfortunately overshadowed its significant role in the transport system," he said. Previous
radius- and route-based permits were the cause of taxi violence, as "rogue operators took advantage to violate the rules and invade routes considered to be lucrative".
The new operating licences, as prescribed by the National Land Transport Transition Act of 2000, will ensure that taxi operators remain confined to specific routes and don't invade the routes of rival taxi associations, Radebe said.
"No single association may lay claim to route ownership," he warned.
Although the operating licences are issued to applicants, they remain government property. The minister appealed to taxi operators who still have to convert their permits to take advantage of the deadline extension to the end of December 2005.
Source: BuaNews
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