Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Pretoria and Gauteng taxi drivers protest

Lusanda Bill
15 September 2010

Pretoria taxi drivers today embarked on a one day strike that left many commuters stranded, and non-striking taxi drivers were also intimidated.

Drivers from 40 different taxi associations are opposing the implementation of the traffic management and demerit system, Aarto.

The taxi drivers have stated that they fear that the implementation of the system may have a negative impact on the industry.

The Tshwane Regional Taxi Council said “since the pilot phase of the system was launched, Metro police have been increasingly harassing taxi drivers on the road”.

The demerit system, drivers around the country could see points docked from their licences for breaking the rules of the road. Once all the points have been removed, the licence is suspended.

The council has given government 14 days to respond to its grievances.

Meanwhile in Johannesburg about 150 taxis marched to the South African Taxi Finance offices to hand over a memorandum of demands. The main issue highlighted in the memorandum is the repossession of taxis and the very expensive rates by SA Taxi Finance.

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