The National Department of Transport has  praised the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme (TRP) as a huge success following the scrapping of over 81 000 old taxi vehicles with a pay out of more than R5,6 billion scrapping allowance to taxi operators since its inception in October 2006 to March 2023. The department says the programme continues to make progress in changing the face of the taxi industry.

MOVING COFFINS

Passengers who fear for their safety have labelled old scrap taxis as moving coffins. Also as much as the department claims that they are doing away with old taxis, many of them are still found in taxi ranks operating as usual. A passenger, known to Zimoja but did not divulge their name, said he commutes from Joburg CBD every week day to Rosebank and not once did he commute in a taxi that is well kept."I was sitting in the front seat with the driver and it was raining, he didn't have a window, I was wet by the time I reached my destination.I could see that he was so helpless and tried driving as fast as he could but that didn't help. Taxi owners need to stop being greedy and get rid of all these scrap taxis from the 90s.'

OUR TAXIS ARE SAFE

However, the department's spokesperson Collen Msibi said the majority of taxi vehicles meet all the safety requirements that were introduced through the TRP, which included among others, safety belts and rollover bars. "When the TRP started in 2006, the target was to scrap 135 000 old taxis, with scrapping allowance set at R50 000. Over 81 000 old taxi vehicles have now been scrapped with the scrapping allowance increased to R151 000 since the beginning of April 2023," said Msibi. He added that as the TRP approaches its 18th year anniversary in October 2023, the department plans to scrap 3 750 old taxi vehicles in the current financial year and will continue to work with the taxi associations to encourage their members to scrap old taxi vehicles.

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