The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) met the South African National Roads Limited (Sanral) chief executive officer, Nazir Alli, on Wednesday, asking him to reduce the amount taxis must pay every time they pass through the new tollgates.
Sanral said a public transport vehicle qualified for a 50 percent discount and if it was using a toll tag, it qualified for another 25 percent off. This means a commuter will be charged R1.34 a day for a return trip, which amounts to R29.51 a month for 22 return trips between the Golden Highway (south of Joburg) and Centurion, via the N1.
For 22 trips between the south of Joburg and Centurion via the N1, M1 and N1, it will cost passengers an extra R14.31 a month.
Santaco spokesman Thabisho Molelekwa told Alli that the e-tolling would affect the taxi industry on various routes.
He said they needed to sit down with Sanral to find middle ground that would pave the way forward without hampering taxi operations or making commuters - who are mostly from the townships - pay more for transport.
Molelekwa said they were having productive meetings with Sanral but could not be certain of what the future held until their meetings were concluded.
“We are having very good meetings and I can only hope that we will be joyous as we have been during these discussions,” he said.
Molelekwa said the reasons they were interacting with Sanral was to pave the way for the years to come.
“We will continue to engage with Sanral and look at the whole system holistically. The CEO has committed to reaching a mutual agreement and we hope we will be able to do exactly that,” said Molelekwa.
Alli commended Santaco for coming to the table to discuss grievances. He said public transport played a pivotal role in society and they needed to encourage people to make use of it.
“We agreed that what is of importance is the use of public transport. They (taxis) play a very important role in the lives of our people. We have to find a solution together. This is not my problem or your problem; these discussions are taking place to find a way to accommodate our commuters,” said Alli.
Should the two parties not come to an agreement and the tolling fee be left as is, commuters will have to dig deeper into their pockets.
Nthabiseng Molefe said an increase in fares would mean her pay would be exhausted on transport. “Some of us don’t make much money and this will leave us completely penniless,” she said. - Pretoria News