Taxi council concerned with regulations on public transportation ahead of lockdown
Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula has announced that minibus taxis and other e-hailing taxi services such as Uber and Bolt will only be allowed on the roads during peak hours.
Taxis are pictured parked in Florida, 16 March 2020, taxi drivers have not yet seen a drop in passengers but are concerned with hygiene in the Taxi. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark
South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) raised their concerns with the regulations in place for the transportation industry ahead of the national 21-day lockdown.
This comes after Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula announced that minibus taxis and other e-hailing taxi services such as Uber and Bolt will only be allowed on the roads between the hours of 5am to 9am and 4pm to 8pm if they carry essential workers.
“We are more worried. Only 10% of taxis will be operational,” the taxi council said on its Twitter account.
Santaco said there were many queue marshals and admin staff that might not receive salaries due to the restrictions.
“There are at least 200,000 drivers, 100,000 queue marshals and 500 admin staff in associations who may not be salaried, then you’ve the owners as well.”
The council also raised their concern about the people who sell at the taxi stations.
“What about hawkers who make money as a result of taxi rank operations?”
Mbalula said trains, passenger flights, and bus services have been suspended until after the lockdown.
He said public transport would only be allowed to travel if they were carrying essential workers or passengers who wanted to buy food, seeking payment of grants or seeking healthcare.
The minister stressed that all passengers would have to carry permits from their employers stating that they were indeed essential workers.
We are more worried. Only 10% of taxis will be operational. There's at least 200k drivers, 100k queue marshals and 500 admin staff in Associations who may not be salaried. Then you've the owners as well. What about hawkers who make money as a result of taxi rank operations?
— SANTACO (@SA_Taxis) March 26, 2020
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