The first phase of South Africa’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system will continue as pilot projects and is meant to be implemented by the respective municipalities says Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele following a meeting with taxi operators in Midrand.
The City of Johannesburg will implement its first phase of BRT at the end of August. However a task team to represent all spheres of government will be set up to engage the taxi industry continuously on the system which has found opposition from the taxi sector.
The taxi industry will also appoint its team to represent its interests in talks with government says Minister Ndebele. The teams are expected to iron out their differences on the new public transport system.
Meanwhile thousands of taxi operators some from as far as the Eastern Cape and Western Cape are in Midrand for the National Taxi Summit from which the media has been barred. The taxi industry has been resisting implementation of the BRT by staging a number of protests and suspending operations for fear of job losses.
The South African National Taxi Council is confident that all their concerns about the new system will be addressed says its secretary general Phillip Taaibosch, who believes the BRT is its current form is unacceptable to the taxi industry. Taaibosch says the taxi industry wants to be part of each and every business opportunity brought up as results of the implementation of the new system.
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