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State called on to intervene in Uber-taxi war

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Picture: Ian Carbutt
Picture: Ian Carbutt

Nearly 70% of South Africa’s households depend on minibus taxis as their mode of transport, says the 2013 national travel household survey by Stats SA.

With such a high figure of the general population dependent on the use of the local transport industry, pricing has to be affordable. With the introduction of on-demand transport service Uber into the country in 2013, the local minibus industry erupted into an ongoing war with Uber and its drivers. Local minibus taxi drivers accused Uber of “stealing” their clients away from them.

Uber charges a base fare of R5, with R7.50 a kilometre thereafter. The average cost of a metred cab or taxi per kilometre is about R10, making Uber far more attractive and affordable to both local and international travellers.

Carspring, an online used-car dealership in the United Kingdom, has compiled the costs of local travel from 80 countries around the world, including South Africa.

The company has measured the average cost per kilometre, airport transfer costs to city CBDs and even waiting period costs from local taxis.

Overall, Cape Town is in 16th place, at the top end of affordability. Carspring lists the cost from Cape Town International Airport to the city centre at $16.35 (about R213). The cheapest city to travel with local transport in the world is Cairo, where it will only cost a commuter $4.20 (about R54) for the same trip.

“Nothing beats the relief of hopping into a comfortable taxi after a long day of sightseeing in a new city,” says Maximilian Vollenbroich, co-founder of Carspring.

“But in some cities, this simply isn’t affordable, and in other places, tourists are at risk of being overcharged. We hope our research helps travellers prepare for safe, fun, and budget-friendly travel in whatever ride best suits them.”

With the recent spate of attacks against Uber drivers – one of which resulted in the death of a driver after he succumbed to injuries inflicted upon him in the Pretoria CBD last month after he was set alight – the local transport industry now faces an even greater challenge: trying to merge the local taxi industry with Uber.

Yesterday Uber called for government intervention.

Uber spokesperson Samantha Allenberg said that they wanted the department of transport and Police Minister Fikile Mbalula to commit to solving the issues “because they are the only ones who can move this forward”, she said.

There are currently 15 “no-go zones” declared by Uber, where commuters run the risk of being intimidated or attacked by angry metred taxi drivers, who target Uber vehicles.

The Uber Driver Movement, formed by a group of Uber drivers has started an online petition at change.org, calling on Mbalula to “end violence against Uber and Taxify drivers”.

“We need police presence at hot spots and a zero tolerance to intimidation. Possibly cases could be referred to a central investigation team,” the petition says.

Hendrik Ndou, general secretary of the Gauteng Provincial Metered Taxi Council told City Press that the council condemned all forms of violence and intimidation, but that the problem remained that Uber operated as a stand-alone business without any form of regulation from the department of transport.

“Three weeks ago we engaged with the City of Tshwane and we agreed that talks would begin with Uber. The bone of contention is that they are operating illegally. You need to have a permit from the department of transport,” Ndou said.

Despite the ongoing challenges, Ndou maintains that the council is ready to engage the department of transport and the Uber operators.

“Uber is basically a partner-run operation, with people who own private cars commissioning drivers to operate as Uber drivers. We want to engage the drivers as well as these partners of Uber,” he said.

Due to the significant amount of Uber presence in and around Pretoria, Ndou said that he and many of the metred taxi drivers monitored vehicles that operated as Uber drivers, in order to verify if they were indeed Uber drivers.

“We take down their number plates, and sometimes we find that a lot of these cars are registered to government officials and police officers, so when we try to get help from policemen we are often harassed,” he said.

Ndou submitted a letter to the portfolio committee of transport last week, outlining the issues that the metred taxis faced, and was told that he will be engaged with soon.


Avantika Seeth
Multimedia journalist
City Press
p:+27 11 713 9001
w:www.citypress.co.za  e: avantika.seeth@citypress.co.za
      
 
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