The metered taxi in South African cities

Abstract

Paper presented at the 28th Annual Southern African Transport Conference 6 - 9 July 2009 "Sustainable Transport", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.

The Department of Transport is leading the development of a strategy aimed at improving the quality of metered taxis in South African cities and at the same time increasing their usage by residents and visitors. A discussion paper has been prepared and circulated to other spheres of government, as well as to relevant agencies such as the SA Bureau of Standards. The next steps will be to: reach consensus with those spheres and agencies, and begin consultations with the metered taxi industry prepare draft regulations and publish these for general public comment. This paper must not therefore be taken as being in any way a statement of government policy or strategy, but rather an indication of some of the main issues which have been identified and which will be the subject of consultation. The 2010 FlFA World Cup clearly indicates that there a degree of urgency, since visitors can be expected to make extensive use of the metered taxi.