Johannesburg - Ride-sharing service Uber is illegal in Gauteng. At least, that’s what roads and transport MEC Ismail Vadi seemed to concede in a radio interview in which he affirmed that Uber is not legally regulated.
The the global company using a smartphone app to link riders with drivers has outsmarted transport authorities, leaving them scrambling to explain how Uber has apparently continued to break the law in the wake of threats of violence by metered taxi owners.
Vadi told Talk Radio 702: “At the moment there’s a lacuna in the legislation between a metered taxi association and chartered services. It doesn’t accommodate Uber from a legal point of view.
“In principle we’ve told them they have to register, and if not, they will not be allowed to operate. They’ll be an illegal operator. I think there is willingness on their part.”
In fact, according to independent transport analyst Paul Browning, the only law - the draft National Land Transport Amendment Bill which has provision for “e-hailing” - is yet to be passed or even put before Parliament.
“My understanding is that it has not yet gone to Cabinet for approval,” Browning said. “So it will still be some time before it is laid before Parliament. There has been criticism of the length of time it has taken the legal eagles to process the bill - and not only because of the e-hailing element.”
Browning said the compromise that was being suggested - that Uber partner-drivers should apply for metered taxi operating licenses - was “clearly a fudge”, because the National Land Transport Act defined ‘metered taxi’ as being ‘equipped with a sealed meter’.
“If operating licenses are issued to Uber under this provision, the issuing authority might be accused of acting illegally,” he said. “In the transport field Uber has come out of the blue. I suppose we might have learnt from the tuk-tuk situation.”
“OVERKILL”
Uber spokesperson Samantha Allenberg said NLTA regulations were drafted in a time before smartphones, so there was no clear category for Uber driver-partners.
“Uber continues to partner with operators who have been taking guidance from the provincial department of transport on how best to obtain licences,” she said. “The national department of transport has issued a Practice Note that serves as guideline to provinces on how to regulate Uber driver-partners .
“This practice note states that until the NLTA has been amended, driver-partners should apply for chartered service operating licences.”
But Browning said this struck him as “overkill, since this is intended for cases where a bus is hired for, say, a funeral”.
“The definition in the act includes that neither the operator nor the driver charges the passenger individual fares,” he explained.
“Where Uber is hired by a single person, that person is clearly being charged an individual fare. My feeling is that the authorities at all levels are keen to accommodate Uber, but they do have to follow the correct legal steps.”
Howard Dembovsky, chairman of Justice Project SA, said Uber was flouting the law and had taken advantage of the situation.
“I can’t blame them. But the government has certainly been caught napping here,” he said.
“I also have a degree of sympathy for the properly registered metered-taxi operators who are crying foul.”
Browning added that, while the Western Cape is considering a by-law to provide for Uber-type services that should be quicker than national legislation, it will obviously not help the situation in Gauteng.
In Cape Town, 200 Uber vehicles have been impounded so far this year.
On Sunday Johannesburg metro police spokesman Wayne Minnaar said the enforcement of the NLTA against Uber represented the competency of the provincial traffic police.
Gauteng Traffic Police spokesman Busaphi Nxumalo said they had impounded 67 illegal taxis since May at the OR Tambo airport and surrounds after violence erupted, adding that an impounded illegal taxi was liable for a fine of up to R1500.
The provincial transport department said that it had held talks with the metered taxi council and Uber – after incidents of intimidation of Uber partner-drivers at selected pick up points – to consider proposals to resolve the dispute between the parties.
“THESE GUYS ARE KILLING MY BUSINESS”
For two decades John Ramaema* has survived running a metered taxi business at OR Tambo airport, sending his children to university and putting bread on the table.
However, business wasn’t always good for the Tembisa-based taxicab owner who, after being retrenched from a hotel chain, used his money to buy his first car, to run it as a metered taxi.
He ran into financial trouble a couple of times, with the banks threatening to repossess his cars as he struggled to make ends meet, after the introduction of the Gautrain saw many of his clients switch.
Now, he claims his business is at the tipping point of ruin, thanks to Uber. Metered taxis, he said, were getting squeezed by the Gautrain on one side and Uber on the other.
In March, Ramaema and at least 120 other members of the OR Tambo International Airport Taxi Association entered into an contractual agreement with the Airports Company of South Africa to operate from the facility. A prerequisite of the contract was that metered taxi owners had to sell their older cars and purchase new ones, in the hope of a “flourishing business”.
“What has since happened is that we are now not only battling with illegal taxis but with Uber, with its drivers sneaking in and out of the airport to fetch people as they please,“ he said. “This begs the question, why did we have to tender for this contract, only to be left unprotected by the authorities?”
“We pay a fee to Acsa to operate at the airport, and our operating licences prohibit us from going all over the country, as they are route-specific.”
The grumble is that Uber is playing by a different set of rules and this, if left unregulated, will lead to chaos. Ramaema complained that, while he was now sitting with debt of almost R1 million for his three cars, a huge chunk of what he considered to be a job is now gone.
“Why go all this long route of compliance with operating permits requirements and contract that went public and then end up with this burden?” he asked. “Is our government so desperate to look world-class with this Uber that they are even willing to shut down economic opportunity to locals who’ve always been marginalised?”
“Our government is very reactive. How could they have not foreseen this threat in changing times?”
Instead of giving in to Uber, Ramaema said, the government could encourage local developers to counter that and work with local private transport owners.
“I am wondering how our authorities can miss transport trends that could impact on our system and fail to prepare for that. Our policy makers are really napping,” he added.
“You cannot regulate others and turn a blind eye on an international giant. Then there should be no metered taxi association; it should be an open market with no regulation.” Sounds like a solution, right there.
* Not his real name
Saturday Star