Commuter safety crucial
THE article, “You ’ re driven by ‘ criminals ’, says Uber ”, refers.
Jonathan Ayache, Uber ’ s Cape Town general manager, is quoted as saying that 10% to 15% of drivers with professional driving permits (PDPs) who approached them had criminal records.
He further suggested that the Western Cape government, in regularising the metered taxi industry, did not take the safety of passengers into account.
First, the department of transport and public works does not issue PDPs. Municipal authorities do – as with drivers ’ licences.
The PDP application process is therefore separate from the one for operators to obtain an operating licence. Operators of vehicles are not necessarily the drivers of those vehicles.
In respect of the second issue around safety, I must again point out that no person may operate a road-based public transport service without the required operating licence (section 50 of the National Land Transport (NLTA) Act, 5 of 2009).
Any operation of a public transport service contrary to section 50 of the NLTA constitutes an offence and may lead to the impoundment of the vehicle. As part of the operating licence process, the operator is required to make a statement regarding previous convictions and the Provincial Regulatory Entity (PRE) must determine if the applicant has the ability to provide a public transport service in a manner that is satisfactory to the public and whether any previous conviction is relevant to the provision of such a service.
We also check whether the vehicle is suitable for that purpose. Vehicles are physically checked at the PRE offices before an operating licence is issued. The applicant also has to submit a current roadworthy certificate as well as the proof that the vehicle is properly licensed.
The PRE may also withdraw an operating licence where the holder has been convicted of certain offences or where he or she has not carried out faithfully the conditions of the operating licence. The statement that it is simply a “regulatory tick box ” is therefore not accurate. The process is underpinned by commuter safety considerations.
Siphesihle Dube, spokesman for the Western Cape minister of transport and public
works Donald Grant