The DA in the Western Cape strongly condemns the recent deadly taxi violence which has seen two different attacks take place on Monday in the Cape Town CBD and Nyanga at the respective taxi decks. We welcome provincial Transport and Public Works Minister, Bonginkosi Madikizela, urgent meeting with all relevant taxi associations in an effort to curb the violence.
Stability in the Minibus Taxi sector was presented in the recently announced Blue Dot service pilot project which aims to improving service quality, taxi safety, and incentivise the industry.
MPP Daylin Mitchell says: “In response to my parliamentary questions regarding the Blue Dot project, Minister Madikizela indicates that this ground-breaking initiative delivers incentives to the taxi industry and thus provides its own mechanism to curb industry violence. By working with the well-entrenched industry, incentives will be distributed by the Department to participants based on relevant performance against the standards provided. Performance will be monitored in several ways, including onboard trackers, on-the-ground monitors, and customer feedback.
The Blue Dot pilot project takes key lessons from the highly successful Red Dot service which was launched during the height of the pandemic to transport public health workers and patients. The department will work with and support the minibus taxi industry as it is the primary public transport option for residents in the Western Cape and often the only choice outside of the Metro.
Once rolled out, residents will be able to make use of a Blue Dot service as they ordinarily would. Users of the service will be able to provide feedback on service quality and safety through a platform on their cell phones. This information will be used to monitor service quality and compliance with the standards, in addition to other inputs, such as information from the onboard tracker.
We further welcome the Western Cape Government’s weekly extensive consultation in the development of the Blue Dot project, including SANTACO and all of its eight regions.”
The province cannot afford for violence to continue, and must continue to place importance on the functional relationship between government and the minibus taxi sector.
The DA in the Western Cape remains committed to creating safer roads for all residents within the province.
