Taxi operators and drivers concerned about more 'lofty promises'

CONGRATULATIONS councillor Roberto Quintas on your appointment as City of Cape Town mayco member for transport.

In a recent interview, you asked us to keep you and the City of Cape Town accountable. We already do so, but we don’t get answers from the City.

We are counting on you to be more accessible during your term. We have a particular interest in knowing how you will be dealing with the MyCiTi N2 Express route, as well as what your role will be in curbing further violence on over-traded taxi routes.

Our concern, as local taxi operators and drivers, is that there will be more lofty promises that go nowhere.

What can we expect from your office during your term, specifically regarding the minibus taxi industry?

Can you advise us about both your mandate and your authority to work with the local minibus taxi industry?

For the industry to develop their independent business models, not within the scope of City projects, but rather to drive its own initiatives.

Not limited to property development, but by integrating transport services with the private sector and developing their own supply chain programme. There is great emphasis placed on the MyCiTi model. Resources are available to challenge the national government for control over rail, and there is an abundance of subsidy provision for Golden Arrow Bus Services (Gabs).

What will you be doing for the minibus taxi industry?

While the issue of subsidies remains a debatable topic, there are other avenues that we would prefer to pursue in the business environment.

What is particularly challenging is the red tape experienced when trying to move taxi-related business forward to deliver on our ability to create sustainability within our ecosystem.

What role will your office play in ensuring our business is not unfairly denied opportunities to grow and expand? We are, after all, small business entrepreneurs first; the structures we find ourselves in, the source of all the chaos, are mandated by legislation, not by choice.

Our ability to earn an income becomes more difficult when there is a failed rail system; an overly compensated bus company that cannot operate without hundreds of millions of rand received in subsidy every year and a pet project, such as MyCiTi, that is bleeding and working to serve the city, and not working with the taxi industry, as was initially envisaged.

You have a competent public transport operator in the minibus taxi industry that you should be supporting. We do the work, the city spends their money elsewhere. Can we address the following:

Will you make yourself available for discussions with local taxi associations, taxi operators and taxi drivers in regard to their concerns, and meet them in the communities in which they operate?

The City of Cape Town meets elected leaders in the industry, while operators on the ground are not privy to discussions regarding their future. We can no longer sit back and watch the carpet being ripped from under us.

The MyCiti W6 infrastructure project addresses a critical need when it comes to road infrastructure; it also addresses opportunities for bus routes. However, what consideration has been provided for impacted operators in the taxi industry?

Conflict that arises from over-trading on routes can be directly attributed to poor route management; a Transport Department that has its own challenges and no enforcement of legislation. This needs to be resolved by the three spheres of government.

Between provincial transport and the City, the only response to taxi industry concerns is a Section 91 and impounding. Neither of which is sustainable. The Blue and Red Dot programmes are a distraction, and a move away from hard-fought objectives. The Blue and Red Dot projects warrant more discussion, starting with transparency.

The City continues, without fail, to play the carrot-and-stick card; sometimes they seem to forget that they are invited to take office by a generous public, who expect delivery on the Cape Flats. How long before citizens weigh up what they are promised and what this City actually delivers?

We look forward to discussing valid concerns by taxi operators and drivers who rarely have an opportunity to meet officials to discuss their future.