THE eThekwini Municipality, alongside the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO), will participate in a site visit on Friday to find solutions for a taxi rank in uMhlanga.

The meeting, which has been facilitated by the eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA), comes two weeks after several taxi operators blocked routes in and out of uMhlanga.

That blockade was to protest and urge the eThekwini Municipality to find a solution to the lack of a designated taxi rank in the area.

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According to municipal spokesperson Gugu Sisilana, the City has tabled short and long-term remedial solutions to address the operational challenges during a joint stakeholder engagement between the City, Greater North Region Taxi Council and the Oceans Mall developer.

“The developer has extended the current operational arrangements by 10 days while the parties endeavour to find a short-term solution. ETA has scheduled a site visit with the Taxi Council to determine a proposed new taxi rank within the vicinity.

“The site visit is part of the City’s long-term proposed remedial solution that will be tabled and discussed with SANTACO before the 10-day period lapses. As part of the City’s ongoing short-term discussions with the uMhlanga Oceans Mall developers, it has been proposed that there should be an extension of the current ranking site to accommodate 90 bays for holding and ranking,” she said.

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Sisilana added the ETA will also conduct a survey to determine the traffic flow and other issues regarding the site of the proposed taxi rank.

A further meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 10.

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