By Anita Dangazele
In what the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality termed a historic event, the taxi industry in the metro signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday to open a new bus route from Kwanobuhle and Rosedale to the Kariega CBD.
The signing of the memorandum comes after months of negotiations with the taxi industry over the metro’s Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS).
Bradley Murray, the mayoral committee member for roads and transport, said the IPTS was designed so that it does not take away any business from the taxi industry.
“The system works because we have to compensate the taxi industry for every bus we put on the road. So one bus would equate to about six to eight taxis.”
He said the municipality had agreed with the Nelson Mandela Bay Regional Taxi Council to accept operating permits from taxi owners, which would allow the buses to operate freely in the townships.
“How it works is that we take the six taxis, and they get ownership of the bus. But before we get there, we need to follow a process of negotiations. We’ve done it with Cleary Park; now we’re moving to Kariega; there are taxis there that will be affected by the programme.
“So this will help us decide which routes we are going to take. We will do surveys to help us understand the monetary value this will take away from taxis and how much we need to compensate them,” Murray said.
He added that taxi operators would be paid monthly.
The NMBM Regional Taxi Council welcomed the initiative from the municipality.
“This has been a long time coming; we welcome it,” said Andile Andries, secretary of the Regional Taxi Council. “We’ve agreed on so many things with the city regarding the IPTS. Although the process has been slow, we’re happy that we’ve reached the stage of signing an agreement; now, we will be part of the transformation. It’s a good day for us,”
Murray said the pilot project of the new bus routes will begin in October and, depending on its success, more townships around the metro will be added to the programme.
Pictured above: Bradley Murray, MMC for Roads and Transport, addresses stakeholders at Thursday’s signing ceremony at the Feathermarket Hall in Gqeberha.
Source: NMBM/ Facebook
