Community can share thoughts on taxi rank
SUNNINGHILL – Further feedback of the taxi rank on Bowling Avenue has risen with organisations coming together to get more information from the community for an ongoing feasibility study.
A number of organisations met at the unofficial taxi rank on Bowling Avenue in Sunninghill to view the rank’s current condition on 19 April.
Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) announced at the beginning of March that a feasibility study to determine if there should be future developments at the rank had been initiated on behalf of the Department of Transport. The Fourways Review had previously reported on the study in the article Is a new taxi rank feasible? [published online on 8 March 2021].
Lwazi Sikiti, the spokesperson for JDA, “As an essential part of this study, the broader Sunninghill community is invited and encouraged to be part of the participation process and to voice their concerns for inclusion into the feasibility study.
“The overall aim is to kick-start the process for an improved public transport facility that responds to the neighbourhood, and services Sunninghill and surrounds.”
Jennifer van den Bussche of Sticky Solutions and the Eastern Taxi Liaison Committee were present to inspect the rank.
She said there was a survey form available for the Sunninghill community to fill out. “We are here to come up with a concept design of the rank. From there, we can apply for internal funding because at the moment we are all unsure of how much everything will cost,” she added.
Eastern Taxi Liaison Committee member, Reinett Makgotla said the committee had recently started working with the Sunninghill taxi rank and the drivers.
She added that there may be a possibility of moving the taxi rank to another location as there had been concern about the taxis parking in front of a nearby hospital. “The area where we are now is too small because there are a number of taxis that stop here, which leads to them parking on the street and causing traffic,” she said.
“Taxis also get washed here and water goes into the Jukskei River where it gets polluted, we obviously want to avoid that from happening.
“We are in talks with the City to move to another area big enough for it to be a holding and loading bay. We also do not want it to be too far from the original location so that people will be able to find it.”
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