Saturday Dispatch

Competition is normal

THIS week we reported that minibus taxi operators stoned a bus in Butterworth, demanding it stop operating along that route. In doing so they damaged the first black-owned national bus liner, African People Mover (APM) which they accused of taking away their customers.

Commuters were opting to use the liner instead of minibus taxis for travelling long distances, such as from Butterworth to Johannesburg, because the bus was charging R350 while the taxi fee was R450 for the same trip.

The Butterworth taxi operators’ action came after their colleagues in Mdantsane tried to stop Mayibuye Transport Corporation (MTC) buses from operating on the Mdantsane and Reeston routes, claiming the government buses did not have permits to run on those routes.

After two meetings with MTC bosses, taxi industry captains basically gave their bus counterparts an ultimatum: operate on those routes and you run the risk of your buses being vandalised by our drivers who we will not be able to control if you continue taking business from them.

Fearing for passengers’ safety MTC understandably chose to suspend its buses from the route.

Whether or not MTC has permits is not entirely clear.

Either way, no form of public transportation should ever take place without proper licensing.

Nor should violent consequences ever be threatened if a competitor does not back away.

More especially in a province where untold numbers of innocent people have already been killed in taxi violence over the years.

The situation should never be one where, as APM chief operating officer Justin Mnkandla told our reporter, “the choice of our passengers’ mode of transport is being undermined by people who behave like they own the road”.

Recently metered taxi drivers in Johannesburg, Sandton and Pretoria whose dominance of the market was being threatened by Uber cab drivers using new technology and charging lower fares went on a similar offensive.

Police registered almost 300 incidents in which Uber taxis were targeted, some petrol bombed.

Last month Police Minister Fikile Mbalula said it was intolerable for commuters to be held to ransom by the criminal actions of metered taxis. “We must zoom in and we must clamp down on anarchy.”

He is correct. Taxi operators, both in minibuses and metered vehicles need to accept the competitive nature of business and that slashing prices to attract clients is a norm.

The use of violence to intimidate competitors is criminal thuggery.

Government must also play its part by ensuring that only those who with proper permits operate on routes. And police must ensure that those who resort to criminal intimidation face the full might of the law.