Can taxi digitisation fix South Africa’s industry problems? Ex-owner weighs in
· Citizen
The Citizen spoke to an ex-taxi owner to understand the ins and outs of South Africa’s taxi industry.
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Jean Williams, whose name has been altered to protect his identity, shared the challenges he faced while managing minibus taxi drivers and the reasons he put those days behind him.
Theo Malele, spokesperson for the National Taxi Alliance, highlighted the industry’s challenges and suggested digital solutions to address them.
Insider scoop: Ex-taxi owner vs taxi driver
After spending five years as a taxi owner and experiencing various challenges, Williams explained why he decided to leave the taxi industry and pursue a career in property.
“I had taxis that used to transport kids nationwide,” Williams recently told The Citizen.
He was part of the Computer Training Institution (CTI) as the taxi fare negotiator, who also marketed taxis as reliable transport to local universities and schools that benefited from their services.
“So, I would sit with the national marketing manager and I would negotiate prices for the different owners who were helping me as well, in the other provinces”
With taxis operating between Diepkloof and the Joburg CBD, Williams was the “middleman” for passenger-driver service delivery.
“So, the money gets paid to my account, and then I would distribute it among the taxi owners.”
Often, the taxi industry is associated with corruption driven by greed that can lead to violence.
Greed and violence
Williams said that, at the time, he would send out between 10 and 100 taxis a day, especially during winter school. He earned around R150 per kombi that went out.
Williams ultimately decided to leave the taxi industry due to the prevalence of greed and violence in the lucrative business.
“For me, it was the management of the drivers, your wear and tear [costs for taxi maintenance], your salaries and also the violence – you know, it’s a violent industry.”
Despite making a living as a full-time taxi owner after taking over his uncle’s taxis in Soweto, it was still seen as more of a side hustle than the main stream of income for Williams.
“I had a full-time job, so to manage them wasn’t easy, because the guys would do their own trips on the side and make their own money”
More damage than anticipated
Williams said drivers often did more trips than required to pocket more money for themselves, while the state of the taxi industry continues to deteriorate.
“You think your taxis [are] only doing seven to eight trips, for example.”
“Not knowing it actually does more trips than that, and then all the wear and tear [costs] falls on you as the owner.”
He said that there was a lot of money involved, including collection fees, security and maintenance, because they made good money during this time. Additionally, there was an expectation that all drivers had to return the taxis to the parking lots with a full tank of fuel at the end of every day.
“I think that they should look at digitising collecting monies, but obviously, I don’t think it will happen anytime soon because they know they’re making a lot of money from this, and each and every one wants to control this money.”
Williams suggested that the desire to kill is fuelled by conflict among other drivers due to money and the hunger for power.
“So, hence in both cases taxi chairmen are being killed because they have a lot of say when it comes to these funds and how people should operate, and when taxi owners should operate.”
Speeding causes bleeding
Although he has never been in a taxi-related accident, his taxi drivers and vehicles have been involved in road accidents, as have many other victims who have lost their lives.
“It’s because they speed.”
Williams explained that taxi drivers speed because they are in a rush to meet their daily targets and to go on their own trips to make more money.
“Say, for instance, they had another bunch of people to go pick up elsewhere. They need to finish and make my money first, and then they’ll have to rush and do those trips on the side for themselves.” Williams said.
‘Discrimination is what we face on a daily basis’
Malele said government has been discriminatory towards funding the taxi industry, despite minibuses being a major public transport contributor.
“Discrimination is what we face on a daily basis.”
“We are not getting any assistance whatsoever, whilst the minority public transport movers enjoy the biggest chunk of government subsidies.”
Solution: Digitising SA’s taxi industry
Malele stressed that people should understand the difference between a taxi driver and an owner, noting inconsistencies in how much drivers actually give the owner versus how much they keep for themselves.
“A taxi driver is an employee and a taxi operator is the [taxi] owner.”
“We struggle in the management of collecting funds on a daily basis, because these funds are collected by the driver and then passed on to the owner. In that process, a huge amount stays behind for the driver.”
He suggested that a “specially designed card” be made that is also recognised by the official Visa payment platform. This card should be designed to regulate the amount of money distributed between taxi owners, drivers and related associations.
“And this would be done with an international company called SA Pay, which NTA is now a part of, and we are trying to get into the South African market. “
“We would use a card system where passengers would tap,”
He said that as long as the card still has money loaded, it should work and give one access to taxi transportation services.
SA’s digital divide
“But I mean, the biggest problem is, there is still a lack of education.”
Malele emphasises that more issues are expected if the government does not adapt to the emerging digital era in the taxi industry.
“Government needs to come up with a strategy ensuring that there is a broad way of getting people to understand that we are now in a digitisation era.”
“And now people need to embrace technology, because if you don’t embrace it we are going to have serious problems.”
Regardless, digital literacy remains a major issue in South Africa, especially among taxi drivers and passengers who use automated systems like taxi cards to make transport easier and safer for commuters.