Formalisation of taxis urged at transport conference

This was the view of Paul Browning, from Transforum Business Development, during his presentation at the 33rd annual Southern African Transport Conference, in Pretoria, at the CSIR International Convention Centre, from July 8 to 10.

Browning said the taxi mode carries 60 per cent or more of daily public transport passengers

“Yet, ask anyone in South Africa what their thoughts are of the minibus taxi, and the answer is the same: government should do something about it,” he said.

The Department of Transport has announced two pillars necessary in the public transport strategy, which are as follows:

•  Modal upgrading

•  Integrated public transport networks (IPTNs)

Browning said although emphasis has been placed on the second pillar of the public transport strategy, there is an urgent need to also focus on the first pillar, which is modal upgrading.

“It is critical to realise that modal upgrading interventions are also necessary if the current public transport service environment is to be stabilised,” he added.

“A large portion of the 60 per cent passenger clientele is either in areas where the second pillar, IPTNs, will not be developed, or where they will not reach for many years.”

The premise of Browning’s paper is that no improvements in the standards of operation of the minibus taxi will be possible unless the present format of individual owner-operators is changed to one where vehicles are operated in larger units, with professional management.

According to Browning, there is no operational management of mini-bus taxis and modal upgrading should take account of the needs of:

•  the owner-operator;

•  the taxi-employee;

•  the taxi-user;

• other road-users;

•  the community at large.

Dorothy McCormick, from the University of Nairobi, seconded Browning’s statement.

McCormick also presented a paper at the 33rd annual conference, looking at institutional development in public of selective compliance for Nairobi’s Paratransit system.

Browning acknowledged that taxi operators may be reluctant to move from their comfort zone and, therefore, there needs to be a carrot and stick approach.

“The carrot will be that such a structural change will pave the way to services being operated under contract to the municipality and thus offer access to the government subsidy,” she said.

“The stick must be that the authorities will institute a vigorous enforcement of business and labour legislation.”

McCormick reiterated that this was an important point, which they were also seeing in Nairobi.

“In order to be licensed, the taxi needs to belong to a company or a co-operative,” she explained.

“Members are then required to save a portion of their take, which qualifies them for loans of up to two or three times their initial investment after a period of time.

“The operators can then use this to purchase vehicles or fix their existing fleet.”

McCormick said this has real potential and urged that a special kind of cooperative, which is a savings system, should be investigated.