‘Taxi fares are killing us’ – commuters

Residents of the Noweto area say they are feeling the pinch after taxi fares were increased last week Friday.

Some of the residents say it is no longer worth it to work as most of their salaries are consumed by commuting.

The residents say they understand that the taxis had to increase their fares due to the surging petrol prices, however, the increases will make it even more difficult for them.

A Soshanguve resident, Bonolo Magale said she used R106 to commute from Soshanguve to Centurion every weekday.

Magale said she did not think it was worth it to work anymore as her transport fees take up most of her salary.

“I do not see the point of working anymore. The taxi fares are unsustainable and a huge chunk of my salary just goes to taxi fares. I cannot buy myself clothes or for my child, the food prices are skyrocketing. I am still lucky that I do not have to pay rent.”

A resident of Mabopane, Lucky Mavuso who works as an intern shared the same sentiments saying his salary was only enough for him to just commute to work.

“I spend R120 to go to work every Monday to Friday. I do not earn that much and even if I chose to stay near where I work, I would still not be able to afford the rent in that area.

“I can’t buy myself anything with that intern salary, it is very frustrating because I’m working for nothing. I do understand why the taxis had to increase because they still need to pay the instalments and also make a living but the prices are killing us.”

Last month South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) said it had no choice but to increase taxi fares due to the rising petrol prices.

Tshwane Santaco spokesperson McDonald Makata said the fuel increases since the beginning of Covid-19 have affected the taxi industry.

“Petrol [price] increments have hit us very hard and we are left with no alternative but also to increase our fares. We have to balance the equation because we will end up with no vehicles at the end of the day. As the industry, we are facing difficulties,” he said.

“The majority of taxi owners are still making instalment payments on their Quantums, and now we have to pay more for fuel.”

Makata said they will meet with the government and dealerships to ask for concessions on payments.

“We are just praying that the government will soon realise that there is a need for a subsidy because we are doing the government’s work by transporting commuters.

“As much as we are doing it for money, we are also assisting on the other hand because what we are charging is nothing compared to what other modes of transport are charging,” he concluded.

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