Transport minister Barbara Creecy, speaking in the wake of the shooting of two e-hailing taxi drivers in Soweto, says there is enough business for everyone — but the traditional taxi operators must be prepared for change.
Creecy told the Sunday Times this week that pending legislation — the National Land Transport Amendment (NLTA) Act — would introduce regulation for e-hailing services such as Uber and Bolt and may help to level the playing field and ease rivalry.
Long-standing conflict between traditional taxis and e-hailing services erupted in violence at Maponya Mall in Soweto 11 days ago. Two e-hailing drivers were shot, one of them, Mthokozisi Mvelase, fatally. He had started the driving job only days earlier.
Creecy approved the NLTA Act in March and it is being translated into a second official language before being gazetted for implementation, which is expected in October.
The regulations — the first yet for e-hailing services — will end the current freedom drivers have to operate anywhere. Each vehicle will be branded or carry some other sign that it is an e-hailing taxi, and will require an operating licence that stipulates a geographical area of operation.
Creecy said this would help to ensure there was no oversupply of public transport services for a given population of commuters.
Under the new regulations an e-hailing driver will have to be vetted and subjected to criminal record checks. A professional driving permit will be required.
Vehicles will be fitted with panic buttons and drivers must ensure their profile on the app includes an up-to-date photo for ease of identification by clients.
The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) recently called for the urgent implementation of the NLTA Act, saying the existing situation “has led to a flood of unregulated operators within the public transport space”.
Creecy appealed to taxi operators to embrace changes in the sector and pursue wider opportunities. Change was an inevitable, integral part of life.
Taxi drivers are no different from the rest of us and part of what everyone has to understand in the modern world is that you either change or you don’t survive.
— Barbara Creecy, transport minister
“Taxi drivers are no different from the rest of us and part of what everyone has to understand in the modern world is that you either change or you don’t survive.”
Creecy said research in the Western Cape showed minibus taxis were best suited for the last leg of a commuter’s journey, rather than longer stretches on a clogged, rush-hour highway; this segment of a commute was more convenient on a train.
She welcomed the fact that some in the public transport space were already looking beyond just moving passengers.
“Santaco, they are really trying to evolve into an organisation that presents alternative livelihoods to their members... [on issues like] how do you have [taxi] rank development and what kind of retail you can have,” said Creecy.
The minister said her department was working with the Western Cape and Gauteng to promote interoperability between different modes of transport.
Rail, considered by the government as the backbone for moving goods and people, was a national competency, while road transport fell under provincial or municipal authorities, creating misalignment in terms of planning.
“When you are planning the operations of a city you must be able to plan in an integrated manner, you should be able to say ‘so many people will be moved on rail, buses and taxis’,” she said.
In Gauteng and the Western Cape, the national department of transport has stepped in to “facilitate integrated planning” for moving commuters.
“What we are saying ... is that if you want to build another Gautrain line, one of the questions we need to look at is the interoperability with the Passenger Rail Service of South Africa [Prasa] network,” Creecy said.
In theory the two services could be integrated at Park Station in Johannesburg, but in practice they served different markets.
Gauteng wants to expand the Gautrain to such areas as Cosmo City and Fourways, north west of Johannesburg. Efforts were under way to make it more inclusive, with the KlevaMova initiative giving qualifying passengers discounted fares.
“Part of what we are discussing with Gauteng is how we have interoperability between the new Gautrain line and the Prasa network,” the minister said.
Gauteng has for a long time been looking at this integrated ticketing system where one ticket can be used on a bus, taxi or a train
— Creecy
“Gauteng has for a long time been looking at this integrated ticketing system where one ticket can be used on a bus, taxi or a train.”
During Covid many Prasa lines were paralysed by vandalism, with tracks ripped up for scrap and buildings stripped of anything valuable.
But 35 of the 40 Prasa corridors have been reopened, and Creecy said requests for proposals would soon be issued for other corridors, such as the Durban-Johannesburg route.
Creecy’s main focus is reforms in the logistics sector. She and Transnet have announced that Transnet Rail Infrastructure Manager has completed the adjudication process to select new train operating companies from the private sector.
Creecy said this was a significant step in the evolution of freight rail, which would become a “more efficient, reliable and sustainable rail system that can promote inclusive growth and ensure job retention and job creation.”
She said the reforms were urgent.
Transnet inefficiency has over the past decade or more driven many former customers, including mines, to use road transport to get their cargoes to the ports.
“The most fundamental issue is that we need to bring in third party investors in infrastructure,” Creecy said. “In March, we put out a call for information on the five priority corridors as well as the associated ports and there was a tremendous amount of interest.”
She said infrastructure would remain under state ownership, but the private sector would be encouraged to invest in it and benefit from this by operating it.
Creecy said there was “massive appetite” from the private sector to pump money into infrastructure development in the freight rail sector.
“We got 63 submissions [in the request for information exercise] and there were many other people who visited the sites with over 1,000 visits.”
Some benefits of third-party access included improving efficiency, boosting freight traffic and reducing network unit costs.
Creecy’s department has set a target of moving 250-million tons (Mt) of freight via Transnet within five years, compared with 160Mt in the latest financial year.
Another target involves improving the speed with which ships are loaded and unloaded to the international benchmark of 30 gross crane moves per hour.
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