The South African Department of Transport says it has scrapped a total of 1,284 illegal taxis in the last six months as part of a programme to improve road safety in the country.
The scrapping initiative is the result of the department’s “taxi recapitalization programme,” originally launched in 2019, which aims to remove old minibus taxis that are no longer roadworthy because of the risk they pose both to other road users and to their own passengers.
The more than 1,200 vehicles destroyed since the start of the new financial year in April represent three-fifths of the nearly 2,000 taxis that the government identified as being non-roadworthy at the end of 2022.
Improving road safety
The government programme encourages taxi owners and drivers to remove unroadworthy vehicles from their fleets through the use of a scrapping scheme, which then pays out an allowance that can be used as a deposit towards a new vehicle, according to BusinessTech.
In addition, the department said it is currently gazetting a new policy that would place a limit on the age that a taxi can reach and still be allowed on South Africa’s roads.
The most recent proposal is that this “cut-off” would apply to vehicles registered before 4 September 2006, meaning a taxi cannot be more than 17 years old.
This cut-off date is intended to get taxi owners to bring in their older models for scrapping, said the department.
However, the move has been criticised by taxi operators, many of whom have pushed back at attempts to crack down on illegal vehicles operating in large metros.
One of the most high-profile incidents occurred in Cape Town earlier this year when city officials began impounding taxis that failed to meet the terms of their operating licence, which led to a days-long protest where thousands of people were stranded, and some even lost their lives.
The state of public transport
The taxi recapitalization programme’s goal is not just to remove non-roadworthy minibuses from the streets, as it is part of a much broader plan to formalize and improve the public transport industry.
Minibus taxis account for roughly 80% of public commuter’s daily transport, which is estimated to represent more than 11 million South African households, according to the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI).
One initiative that has seen growing interest in electric taxis, which are being pioneered by South African universities and are expected to substantially reduce maintenance and running costs for their owners.
Keyword: How many illegal taxis were scrapped in South Africa in the last 6 months