So much snot and trane on702 today and disruption to their normal line up.  A man called shouting and shaking even Redi Deriko with reports of shooting at Grayston.  A lady called crying because her mother was in the midst of this and her mother said she saw a motor bike guy and was envious that he will be out of the mess in no time and a few minutes later drove pass  saw him lying on the ground. .  Amazingly the motorbike person’s wife was also listening and called in a few calls later and said he was just a bit traumatised and hurt but still alive.

The good

We must understand that taxi drivers don’t have an easy job, they are fighting the survival of the fittest game. We get frustrated driving in traffic imagine how they must be feeling being in the hot taxis without air cons the whole day.  They epitomise customer service as they pick up passengers and drop them off where they have to go. Just lift your finger where ever you are with a taxi signal and wala there they are.  I am sure if we felt road safe with them everyone would use them.

The Bad and Ugly

The taxi industry really need to be controlled more sternly. It seems that everyone seems to be very bang(scared) of them and can’t tell them what to do. They do not obey traffic rules and i was impressed with the  Operation Nomakanjani – Zero Tolerance effort from the police to take their power back.

Just from the minibus taxi driver disrespect to other drivers on the road it is clear  Taxi drivers think they are the Kings of the road, they have the upper hand.

The biggest reasons are they carry illegal guns, knob kieries and other weapons of mass destruction like intimidation.

They use intimidation tactics to get what they want. Yesterday events was proof of that. These are only a handful of guys. There were 5000 taxi drivers marching peacefull yesterday.  I am sure only 50 of them were acting like this hitting, kicking and throwing their toys. This minority mentality is  let me take out my gun and knobkierie and hit anyone that doesn’t use my transport. If they use a bus I am going to hit them, kick them and maybe even kill them so that they can use my taxi. That is fact. I’ll kill someone’s breadwinner so that I can earn my own bread tactics. A bus driver was killed yesterday.  The passengers, the government, the cops and now I am sure the bus drivers are all in self preservation mode and are scared of being killed so they won’t do anything. Now what if the tables were turned. What is the passenger were King. What if they had the power. Why are 20 passengers in a minibus taxi scared of 1 taxi guy. Why is it not the opposite?  Is it because he has a knobkierie or because he belongs to an association that is like a brotherhood and they all stand together. Where is the passenger association? The passenger and customer is always right. The taxi industry truly have a monopoly. Didn’t they say competition is healthy. This will force them to improve their customer service if they want to keep the passengers. Make them feel safe, lower their prices and drive carefully. An example needs to be made that intimidation will not be tolerated. I can’t wait for the day the passengers march to the government offices together saying we will not tolerate to be intimidated by taxi drivers. We are living in a free country. If all the passengers stand together they will be a force to be reckoned with.

We need to have a zero tolerance to such behaviour- Operation Nomakanjani – Zero Tolerance and implement something that will make them listen.. I am sure they don’t want to loose their jobs. Some examples need to be made. Why do you think cutting of hands is so effective in some countries. Before they steal they bang that their hands are going to get cut if they get caught and that stops them from becoming tsotsi’s.( My hand or that DVD players.) The prevention of harm before the attainment of good.  Would you rather let innocent people get harmed and have a tactic that will prevent harm from happening to them by looking all good. Prevention is better then cure.

Solutions

• Passengers need to form an association of their own so that they can have a forum to stand up for their rights.
• My suggestion is why not use the Rapid Bus System road or lane that is being built for Taxi’s as well. In order for them to use it they has to be strict rules they need to adhere to. Have a process in place and a toll gate for minibus taxi. If they break the rules they are out of it.
• Have a road block and search all taxi’s for illegal weapons.
• Arrest the drivers that have illegal weapons.
• Implement a demerit system especially designed for taxi drivers similar to what is being used in London. What happens if you get a certain number of points against you, you loose your license to drive and you have to take the test again.We don’t want to go through that again. I am sure they don’t want to loose their jobs.
• Confiscate taxi’s from taxi drivers who disobey traffic laws. Give them 3 warnings.
• Give heavy fines to the Taxi association that the taxi who is so unruly and who want their taxi’s back after the 3 warnings.
• I highly recommend a system similar to crimeline but a zola budd line or taxi line for the metro police where a driver who is frustrated with bad driving can sms or email the number plate and if they can see the taxi association to this hotline. If they can take a picture of the act in motion even better. Maybe make it mandatory like some trucks if I am driving badly tell my boss and i will get fired.. If the same number plate has 3 reports in conjunction with the demerit system he get’s points against him.
• Road regulations need to be established for the Taxi to adhere to to be roadworthy. Especially having that label at the back phone me for bad driving
• Implement taxi stops in strategic places close to robots but not at robots
• Fine pedestrians that wait for taxi or get dropped of taxi by the robots – almost like jaywalking.. the metro police will be rich..
• SARS should implement a special taxi tax. If you want to be a taxi association you need to have the following in order etc.  That way we will get them in the books and databases. SARS everyone is bang of SARS. I am sure they could scare them as well. Implement a travel allowance incentive for them so they will register. They don’t pay tax if their demerit system is clean. For every demerit they get they play a tax penalty.

Any other ideas to get them to toe the line like the rest of us.

Joburg Survival guide to Minibus taxi’s

Tags: 702, Demerit system, knobkierie, Minibus Taxi strike Johannesburg, Rapid Bus Transport System, Redi Direko, SARS taxi tax, Zola Budd