Traffic solution

LET ME get straight to it – five months ago, I approached the authorities with an idea to help alleviate growing traffic congestion during peak periods.

If one googles “safemotos” or “baxi”, one can see that there are foward-thinking cities around the world embracing the idea of bike taxis.

Strangely enough, having done a survey, I got support from a prestigious motorbike manufacturer happy to let me source very well-trained riders on quality bikes, and interest from an EMS provider in terms of starting a service similar to LAS in London – basically paramedics on bikes during peak periods who would be there for our “clients” and the public at large, as well as an insurance company offering topof-the-range passenger liability.

Unfortunately, I have received little interest from the authorities after many requests just for the opportunity to state my case; being shunted from one department to another, e-mails going unanswered, and the knowledge that I could get strangled by regulations, legislation and an unwillingness to even consider this as a possible solution (on a small scale of course) to the madness that is traffic during peak periods in Cape Town.

One hears a whole lot of hot air from the authorities about how they are going to fix the problem, but I travel these roads every day (3.5 hours per day on average), and its just getting worse, I’m sorry to say.

I wonder what the public reaction to the idea would be, and whether I can say I have been given the kind of willingness to engage with me in an meaningful way from the authorities in my attempt to bring this option to the public of Cape Town.

That pretty much sums things up for me.