Durban - THE South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) and the eThekwini Metro Taxi Council (EMTC) reached an agreement with the Department of Transport and the eThekwini Municipality which will see them operating differently this week.
Santaco KZN chairperson Boy Zondi said discussions with various stakeholders resulted in two amendments to taxi operations.
Zondi said operating times and the number of passengers transported had been changed.
“They decided to relax the time. It is now from 5am to 8pm. This makes it much better for the taxi industry to be able to transport people.
“When the new regulations came out, taxi operators were supposed to carry 50% passengers in a vehicle. Now the minister has also relaxed it to 60%.”
Zondi said that while this made operations better, they still had a challenge on the ground, where the enforcement units were unaware of the changes.
This was something they were trying to address with the department so that officers on the ground could be given information in writing to prevent confusion, as taxis were being impounded and offloaded.
“The Transport Minister said the time adjustment is for five days, but we are engaging with the department further because we think if they
can do it for the period of the lockdown then it will be much better,” said Zondi.
They were now back on the road, but transporting essential service employees, who had to provide documentation from their employees, or grant beneficiaries.
EMTC secretary Mathula Mkhize said that as from 5am yesterday the EMTC provided transport to essential service personnel and state grant beneficiaries only, provided they showed the relevant identification.
Mkhize said a form would have to be filled in by the seven passengers in the taxi.
The EMTC said taxi fares would remain the same during the lockdown.