Cabinet has approved a detailed strategy for the rollout of the
taxi recapitalisation programme. Transport Minister Jeff Radebe,
announcing the strategy at a media briefing at the Union Buildings
yesterday, said that while the strategy was not only about
scrapping old taxis, this would be at its core.
He added that the removal of the oldest and most unroadworthy of these vehicles, which he dubbed 'deathtraps', was an urgent short-term goal.
Information from the department indicates that, countrywide, there are 4 513 taxis older than 25 years. The biggest grouping of taxis can be found in the years 1987 to 1990, making these 24 000 vehicles at least 15 years old.
Government also intends regulating the taxi industry, integrating it into the public transport system and enforcing legislation effectively.
The transport sector, excluding taxis, contributes some six per cent to the country's gross domestic product each year.
This next phase of the programme is expected to take some 18 months to implement, said Radebe.
On the rollout strategy are items such as scrapping existing vehicles, for which owners will receive R50 000 regardless of the condition of the vehicle as long as they can prove that they were in possession of a valid operating licence.
Government intends removing 10 000 of these vehicles by December next year and will be inviting taxi operators who wish to leave the industry to hand in vehicles and permits.
Registration for this will be open in the next three months.
In addition, government will be encouraging taxi operators to register with Operating Licensing Boards, which will then register applications, evaluate them and verify the validity of operating licences linked to the taxi.
All this is necessary before government will scrap a vehicle and pay out R50 000.
Those who fail to register what Radebe called 'wrecks' will face having the vehicles impounded and losing the scrapping allowances.
Procedures have been put into place to ensure that there is no fraud linked to this offer and vehicles will not immediately be scrapped but a tender will be issued for the public to submit proposals to scrap the vehicles.
Interested parties will be invited to submit proposals next month.
Included in the strategy are safety regulations that have been approved by Cabinet and which will require each new vehicle, from next year, to have seatbelts, roll-over bars, type-two braking systems, commercially rated tyres of sizes 185 R or 195 R, warning markings, wheel bands and tamper-proof governors limiting speeds to 100 km/h.
In addition, vehicles will be diesel-fuelled and colour-coded.
Helping finance this will be Absa, Standard Bank, WesBank and DaimlerChrysler South Africa's financial arm, all of which have signed a memorandum of understanding to this end.
While Radebe could not indicate what colours he had in mind, he did intimate that these might indicate that the taxi is, for example, a long-distance taxi or a Gauteng-specific taxi.
He emphasised that this was to indicate to travellers that the vehicle could be used for transport.
It is possible that the colour codes may also be used to indicate metered taxis on the road, as is the case in London or New York.
Amendments to the National Land Transport Transition Act will also be introduced at the next Parliamentary session.
This is aimed at eliminating foul play in the industry and providing it with more regulation while drawing taxis into the public transport net.
In this regard, some R2,5-billion has been set aside over the next five years to increase government's ability to enforce laws in the industry.
The last item on Radebe's list is that of broad-based black economic-empowerment.
By no means the least important, Radebe's aim here is to further the trends of black ownership in the industry.
To this end he is looking at concepts such as drivers becoming operators if an operator is leaving the industry or links with the bus transport system.
Taxi operators are also to benefit from government's extension of subsidies beyond bus tickets to include taxi fares, Radebe said.
He added that the removal of the oldest and most unroadworthy of these vehicles, which he dubbed 'deathtraps', was an urgent short-term goal.
Information from the department indicates that, countrywide, there are 4 513 taxis older than 25 years. The biggest grouping of taxis can be found in the years 1987 to 1990, making these 24 000 vehicles at least 15 years old.
Government also intends regulating the taxi industry, integrating it into the public transport system and enforcing legislation effectively.
The transport sector, excluding taxis, contributes some six per cent to the country's gross domestic product each year.
This next phase of the programme is expected to take some 18 months to implement, said Radebe.
On the rollout strategy are items such as scrapping existing vehicles, for which owners will receive R50 000 regardless of the condition of the vehicle as long as they can prove that they were in possession of a valid operating licence.
Government intends removing 10 000 of these vehicles by December next year and will be inviting taxi operators who wish to leave the industry to hand in vehicles and permits.
Registration for this will be open in the next three months.
In addition, government will be encouraging taxi operators to register with Operating Licensing Boards, which will then register applications, evaluate them and verify the validity of operating licences linked to the taxi.
All this is necessary before government will scrap a vehicle and pay out R50 000.
Those who fail to register what Radebe called 'wrecks' will face having the vehicles impounded and losing the scrapping allowances.
Procedures have been put into place to ensure that there is no fraud linked to this offer and vehicles will not immediately be scrapped but a tender will be issued for the public to submit proposals to scrap the vehicles.
Interested parties will be invited to submit proposals next month.
Included in the strategy are safety regulations that have been approved by Cabinet and which will require each new vehicle, from next year, to have seatbelts, roll-over bars, type-two braking systems, commercially rated tyres of sizes 185 R or 195 R, warning markings, wheel bands and tamper-proof governors limiting speeds to 100 km/h.
In addition, vehicles will be diesel-fuelled and colour-coded.
Helping finance this will be Absa, Standard Bank, WesBank and DaimlerChrysler South Africa's financial arm, all of which have signed a memorandum of understanding to this end.
While Radebe could not indicate what colours he had in mind, he did intimate that these might indicate that the taxi is, for example, a long-distance taxi or a Gauteng-specific taxi.
He emphasised that this was to indicate to travellers that the vehicle could be used for transport.
It is possible that the colour codes may also be used to indicate metered taxis on the road, as is the case in London or New York.
Amendments to the National Land Transport Transition Act will also be introduced at the next Parliamentary session.
This is aimed at eliminating foul play in the industry and providing it with more regulation while drawing taxis into the public transport net.
In this regard, some R2,5-billion has been set aside over the next five years to increase government's ability to enforce laws in the industry.
The last item on Radebe's list is that of broad-based black economic-empowerment.
By no means the least important, Radebe's aim here is to further the trends of black ownership in the industry.
To this end he is looking at concepts such as drivers becoming operators if an operator is leaving the industry or links with the bus transport system.
Taxi operators are also to benefit from government's extension of subsidies beyond bus tickets to include taxi fares, Radebe said.
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