The Department of Transport says it has scrapped 1,284 illegal taxis in the country since April 2023, as part of its wider ‘taxi recapitalisation programme’.

The programme forms part of a campaign launched in 2019 to improve road safety in the country by clamping down on old and unroadworthy taxis, which pose a massive risk to road users and passengers alike.

The department introduced a Taxi Recapitalization Programme due to unsafe taxi vehicles that resulted in injury and loss of life.

Under the programme, taxi owners and drivers are encouraged to remove unroadworthy taxi vehicles from the road using a scrapping process through the department. They are then given a scrapping allowance which can be used as a deposit to recapitalise new vehicles.

The department said that it is currently working on gazetting a ”cut-off” for old taxi vehicles registered on or before 04 September 2006.

The cut-off date is intended to act as a measure that will assist in getting the taxi owners to bring the vehicles to be scrapped.

In the current financial year, 1,284 taxis have been scrapped. Close to 2,000 taxis were identified as needing to be scrapped at the end of 2022.

The move to scrap illegal taxis in the country coincides with a concerted effort from the government to formalise and professionalize the industry.

Plans laid out by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) looking ahead to 2050 envision a public transport system that includes a formalised minibus taxi industry at its core.

According to the DPWI, minibus taxis now account for 80% of public transport trips in South Africa. The number of households who use taxis increased from 9.8 million in 2013 to 11.4 million in 2020.

The plan focuses on land passenger transport modes in the country involving the majority of people – specifically trains, buses and minibus taxis – in both rural and urban centres across short and long-distance travel.

These transport systems will need to be upgraded and integrated with emerging technologies, including electric vehicle fleets. Minibus taxis need to be part of this upgrade process, it said.

Taxi operators have pushed back against many attempts to get illegal or illegally operating vehicles off the country’s roads, however.

This came to the fore earlier this year when the City of Cape Town impounded taxis that were operating counter to the terms of their operating licences. This resulted in massive pushback from drivers and owners and led to violent strikes in the region.

Five people died in strike-related violence and at least 120 people were detained in connection with other protest-related crimes.

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