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The transport industry is one of many industries negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on 23 March that South Africa would undergo a 21-day lockdown in a bid to enforce social distancing and flatten the curve.
The lockdown, which began on Thursday at 23:59 and will end on 16 April 2020, includes public transport restrictions that South Africans are expected to adhere to. These include complying with the set time for traveling via public transport which is 5AM to 9AM and 4PM to 8PM.
The Gauteng transport MEC, Jacob Mamabolo, has been conducting walkabouts around the province to gauge compliance and states that there is a high level of compliance by the taxi industry regarding the specified travel times. He also added that Thembisa, Soweto and Tshwane are examples of areas that have adhered to the travel time rules.
The taxi industry has also followed regulations to disinfect vehicles, with taxi drivers wearing protective gear such as masks and gloves and commuters being sanitized prior to entering vehicles.
A previous rule stated that only half of the seats in a taxi may be occupied at a time, but on Wednesday Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula announced that taxis may carry up to 100% of their full capacity, as long as all passengers wear approved surgical or N95 respiratory masks.
Although there have been restrictions put in place to limit the amount of time people spent in public spaces, people are not practising social distancing when in public, with many not keeping a two metre distance from others as recommended.
If you are travelling via public transport, it is important to remember that you are allowed to ask taxi drivers to adhere to the specific regulations.
Here are the public transport regulations you need to know:
Rail
– All public and private long-distance passenger rail services such as Metrorail and Gautrain have been shut down.
Aviation
– All international and domestic flights are prohibited, irrespective of the risk category of the country of origin. Only air cargo is allowed with sanitising being done for cargo planes from high risk countries.
Taxis
Minibus taxis:
– They will be allowed to transport essential services workers and “those allowed to make the necessary permitted movements” between 05:00 and 09:00 and 16:00 and 20:00.
– Operators are directed to adhere to social distancing.
– Taxis must be sanitised after every trip.
– Taxi ranks must be sanitised at regular intervals with sanitisers used in all taxis required to have a minimum alcohol content of 60%.
Metered taxis and e-hailing:
– Metered taxis and e-hailing vehicles will be allowed to transport essential service workers and “those allowed to make the necessary permitted movements” between 05:00 and 09:00 and 16:00 and 20:00.
– The vehicles must be sanitised after each journey.
Passenger numbers
-Taxis which generally load 14 passengers will now have to carry 7 passengers in order to maintain social distancing.
– A vehicle licenced to carry up to four people is only permitted to load one person. This means the driver and possibly one passenger and the passenger is required to maintain social distance.
– A vehicle licenced to carry up to eight passengers is only permitted to load a maximum of three.
Cross-border road transport
– All cross-border road passenger movements have been prohibited during the lockdown.
– Cross-border freight movement have continued to and from neighbouring countries.
-Vehicle testing centres and driver’s licence testing centres have been closed.
Drivers Licence
Should your driver’s licence expire during the duration of the lockdown, it shall be deemed to remain valid until the end of the lockdown, with the grace period of renewal within 14 working days thereafter unless otherwise determined.
