Delivered by Paul Browning during the 2016 Southern African Transport Conference (SATC), held in Pretoria, South Africa.

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TAKING THE ‘R’ OUT OF IRPTNs
Paul Browning
SA TRANSPORT CONFERENCE,
7 JULY 2016

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Department of Transport 24 January 2014 :
“The strategic thrust endorsed in the Public Transport
Strategy (March 2007) rests on two pillars, namely:
• modal upgrading, and
• integrated public transport networks.
“The first pillar refers to the introduction of urgent
significant improvements in current public transport
services; whereas the second pillar is more a long term
implementation of high quality integrated public
transport networks.”

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The Priority – the Minibus-Taxi
The taxi mode carries 60% or more of daily public transport
passengers.
It will for many years continue to be the mainstay of public
transport in both urban and rural areas.
The current standards of operation fall far below what can be
expected.
‘First pillar’ upgrading of the taxi mode is needed.

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The Catalyst – The Operating Licence System
The Operating Licence system can be used to facilitate
greater order in the taxi industry.
Government must :
• administer the OL system fairly and efficiently
• firmly enforce it
• ensure that taxi operators fully comply with all
the conditions of their OL (‘the stick’); and
• assist local associations to implement operational
management of taxi services (‘the carrot’).

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Enforcement : The Stick and the Carrot
Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters, 10 October 2015 :
“The Minister……calls on the Provincial
Governments to tighten the licensing regime by :
• punishing transgressors (the stick), and
• rewarding good behaviour on the part of
compliant operators and drivers (the carrot).“

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National Land Transport Act 2009 : Sec 90 (3)
‘When an employee of the holder of an Operating
Licence commits an offence, the holder of the
Operating Licence is equally liable unless he or she
can show that s/he took all reasonable measures to
prevent the offence.’
It is not enough for the owner of the vehicle to say that
the driver was out of sight. The owner (the holder of
the OL) must institute suitable management systems.

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National Land Transport Act 2009 :
Sec 62 (1) (c)
‘An operating licence may only be issued if the
applicant has signed a statement to the effect that
he or she will comply with labour laws in respect of
drivers and other staff, as well as the Sectoral
Determination of the Department of Labour.’
The Sectoral Determination stipulates :
• written particulars of employment
• payslips showing PAYE and UIF
• maximum hours of work/compulsory rest periods
• paid leave – annual, sick, family, etc

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Public Transport Priority Measures
Taxi drivers are penalised for not obeying the rules of
the road.
The Public Transport Strategy aims to encourage public
transport over the private car. Each taxi carries between
15 and 22 passengers. Yet no provision is made to give
the taxi priority over private cars, which usually carry
just one person.
There must be a concerted effort to implement a wide
range of public transport priority measures on all major
taxi routes.

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Assessment
An upgrading of the taxi mode cannot be achieved where
there are tens of thousands of individual owners each
operating one or two vehicles, and where there is no
operational management or supervision.
The vehicles can continue to be owned by individuals, but
for operations purposes they must be ceded to an
operating organisation with professional management.

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The Operations Management Unit (1)
It is impossible for the owner of just one or two taxis to
comply fully with all the conditions of an Operating
Licence as laid down in the NLTA 2009.
Each local association must be assisted set up an
Operations Management Unit (OMU).
Members of the association will continue to own their
vehicles and retain their Operating Licences, but they
will ‘cede’ management of the vehicles and drivers to
the OMU.

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The Operations Management Unit (2)
The OMU will act on behalf of individual owners to
enable them to comply with the conditions of their
Operating Licence.
It will provide specialist management of :
• 0perations
• maintenance
• driver recruitment, training and management
(HR)
• security of fares income by way of a ticketing
system.

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The Operations Management Unit (3)
Taxi operators will continue to own their individual
vehicles. They will be able to feel that, if the promised
benefits and guarantees do not materialise, they have
the option of withdrawing.
If this 'fall-back' option is available to taxi operators,
then they are likely to be willing to take the first step (of
ceding management to the OMU); and, if the promises
are kept, they will be willing to move on to further
steps.
However, if they do not participate in the OMU, they
must know that they are then ‘on their own’.

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Meeting the Costs
There will be extra costs of compliance, as well as the
costs of the OMU.
• Start-up costs of the OMU must be met by
government as part of their contribution to bringing
greater order to taxi operations (Minister Peters :
“rewarding compliant operators”)
• Ongoing costs of both the OMU and full legal
compliance can be met by securing fares income
through a ticketing system.

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THANK YOU
No animals were hurt during the preparation of this presentation

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DISCUSSION