City warns of delays as ranks undergo upgrades

TAXI ranks in Durban are set to receive a facelift.

This comes after the eThekwini Municipality reported it was to spend about R33 million upgrading five city taxi ranks and one near KwaMashu, in a bid to make them safer and longer lasting.

Tthe municipality has warned of the possibility of months of traffic congestion and inconvenience, as construction work is scheduled to start this month and end in November.

The taxi ranks which will undergo the revamp are the Soldiers Way taxi rank at Soldiers Way and Joe Slovo (Field) Street, Old Dutch, at the corner of King Dinuzulu (Berea) Road South and Julius Nyerere (Warwick) Avenue, Cartwright’s Flats at Joe Slovo and Ingcuce (Albert) Streets, Centenary Road at ML Sultan and Market Roads, Anton Lembede at Anton Lembede (Smith) Street and Williams Road, and Besters, which is on the R102 near the Bridge City town centre near KwaMashu.

Roof structures of most of the existing taxi ranks are in need of urgent repairs to make them safe.

eThekwini Municipality’s head of communications, Tozi Mthethwa, said this would affect the normal movements of commuters and the public as temporary rank relocations would be necessary. She said the municipality apologised for any inconvenience that may be caused during the construction phase.

“During the upgrading phase, the eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA) will provide temporary infrastructure to be used by commuters which includes portable toilets and trading areas for people who are currently trading within the affected taxi ranks,” said Mthethwa.

In the meantime, taxis will continue parking in Mathews Meyiwa Road (First Avenue) while the municipality works on a holding area, which it hopes will be ready by the end of next week. This was agreed to at a meeting last week between the ETA, metro police and the Durban Long Distance Taxi Association, following a recent incident where drivers and taxi owners blockaded the road with burning tyres and threw objects at police, who had impounded six taxis that were parked illegally.

ETA head, Erik Moller, said the holding area in Dalton Road, would be ready by the end of next week.

Although taxi drivers and owners have complained that the holding area is too far from Durban Station where they operate, Moller said the city was not obliged to provide holding areas for taxis and the land in Dalton Road was the only land available.