City should work with taxi industry, not enforce curbs

I AM RESPONDING to the front page report, “City gets tough on taxis”, which appeared in the Weekend Argus last Saturday.

Citizens are supposed to once again be impressed by government departments that come out to parade their shiny new handcuffs and newly drafted plans to curb the taxi industry. This detracts from the real problem – the inefficiencies of the public transport sector.

If citizens buy into a plan to curb taxi behaviour by enforcement, they should think again.

The same departments that deal with safety and security, road congestion and municipal administration are attempting to convince you they have found the resources, solutions and motivation to fix public transport and curb road congestion by focusing on one group and turning the screws on them.

The solution to fixing the taxi problem lies within the review of the National Land Transport Act (2009), the implementation of a real transformation agenda for public transport in this city and the addressing of severe inefficiencies in the public transport department of the government.

There are no resources to implement the proposed crackdown strategy, which, after some initial show of force, would not succeed, meaning we would be right back where we were before, but perhaps worse off.

The heart of the taxi issue is actually a question of transformation, commercialisation and education.

What a shame to waste another opportunity to address the legacy legislation that impedes growth.

The taxi industry will not forgive another chance to work together being squandered by the authorities. I am amazed at the thick skin of transport officials.

Citizens need to hold officials who make statements that go absolutely nowhere, accountable.

Who benefits from attempts to destroy the taxi industry? Who benefits from the chaos?

The taxi industry, government, commuters and even other road users all agree on everything relating to formalisation, skills development and organisation. Where we differ is on implementation of a working solution. Are we addressing the real underlying problems?

You have to ask yourself why there is desperate lawlessness on the road? Is it greed, or a business operating in survivalist mode? Is it a grab for territory, or is it motivated by extreme poverty and a struggle to put food on the table?

Our leaders are failing us. The solutions being presented do not address the glaring problems in this industry, so why is the government adamant on presenting solutions it cannot execute, instead of engaging in a collaboration that has an outcome that meets all stakeholder expectations.

Stability for the taxi industry won’t be won through enforcement that criminalises a genuine attempt to be productive. The problems that arise are due to: the low barrier to entry for the industry; a taxi industry leadership that is not doing enough to drive a commercial process; and lack of real skills development and training processes.

Why the government persists in a solution that punishes, rather than reorganising resources to streamline, administer, evaluate and integrate with the co-operation of the taxi industry, again begs the question, “Who benefits from the chaos?”

My call is to seriously review the commercialisation of the minibus taxi industry for a true win-win scenario. The internal mechanisms of the taxi industry are also to blame and warrant retrospection from the industry about owners’ own vision for the future of their industry.

This is also a call for the taxi leadership to be accountable and to create the right environment to investigate strategies for the industry by industry participants, members and veterans.

The success story for the taxi industry must evolve from within.

Rail and bus services do not have the operational capacity to serve this city or the province. READING through the various offences for which taxis will be impounded had me wondering why the report only refers to taxis.

Taxis are far from being the only road hogs on Cape Town’s roads and you can well imagine the salutary effect on these road-hogs’ behaviour if their vehicles stood a chance of being impounded.

Surely every driver and their vehicle should be subject to the various offences and penalties?