Cape Town - The Transport and Public Works
Department with the taxi industry has
launched the Red Dot service to help
provide critical transport for healthcare workers in the province.
MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela said the service would initially comprise 100 minibuses, which would be deployed where they could best serve Red Dot and Red Dot Lite commuters.
As from Monday, the service would safely transport health-care workers left stranded due to limited public transport operating hours.
“Under the level 4 regulations, public transport must stop operating at 7pm and may only resume at 5am,” Madikizela said.
“Red Dot Lite will provide a chartered transport service for those Health Department employees who need to travel for work between 7pm
and 5am.”
From June 1, he added, the service would also transport those who have tested positive for Covid-19 or were at high-risk of having been exposed to the coronavirus.
“The transport provided will make use of a dedicated fleet of vehicles and will follow strict safety and hygiene protocols, including rigorous cleaning and sanitisation of vehicles after every trip, the use of masks and appropriate protective gear and a less than 50% capacity,” Madikizela said.
South African National Taxi Council provincial spokesperson, Gershon Geyer, said: “We are very happy with the Red Dot initiative.The taxi industry has suffered severe losses since lockdown.”
The Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association’s Mandla Hermanus added: “We hope that this will be a first of much collaboration with the transport department in the Western Cape.”
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