Well-being of commuters properly looked after
As commuters started arriving from 5am at Rank 5 in Horison, taxi marshals equipped with sanitizers sprayed their hands before they could set their feet on the platforms.
While the local taxi industry has heeded the call for social distancing by minimizing the number of commuters and daily operations, they’ve also ensured that all operating minibuses are disinfected, as well as the valuable commuters.
The Dobsonville Roodepoort Leratong and Johannesburg Taxi Association (DORLJOTA), an affiliate of the Top Six regulatory body, invited the Roodepoort Record on Wednesday, 8 April, to witness the proactive stance that they as an association have taken to keep their operating space hygienic.
As commuters started arriving from 5am at Rank 5 in Horison, taxi marshals equipped with sanitizers sprayed their hands before they could set their feet on the platforms.
Taxis are also regularly disinfected by men in personal protective gear (PPE) contracted by Provincial Government as they queue to load passengers.
The Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport Johannesburg Team, which has provided taxi ranks across the board with disinfecting supplies, was on site to monitor and promote hygiene.
Theo Nkoni from the department explained the purpose of this initiative. “This is a campaign from government and the mandate is to disinfect all the vehicles to assist in reducing the spread of Covid-19 since the taxis industry was listed as an essential service for the lockdown,” he explained.
He added that the department is working in all taxi ranks across Joburg for the duration of the lockdown, “With the support of the taxi associations and owners, we educate the taxi operators and passengers about the importance of sanitizing, and wearing masks and gloves to limit the spread of this virus.”
He added that all stakeholders from government and the taxi industry were invited to a briefing to raise awareness and discuss what needed to be done.
Part of the intervention by Province was to provide large quantities of sanitizers for the sanitization of taxis to continue, even when officials are out of sight. To prove the adequacy of supply, the Top Six national spokesperson, Emmanuel Maweke, said the association had coughed up money to purchase sanitizers prior to receiving government’s subsidy.
Maweke also commented about sanitization in the industry, “Sanitizing users of the taxi rank is very important because of this deadly virus killing the people around the world. We were very fortunate that the President called for a lockdown very early, because if it wasn’t for that early call, our numbers would have been much higher.”
When asked about effects of the lockdown on the taxi industry, Maweke shared his perspective. “Yes, the business has been affected but our business is reliant on the public and without them, there is no us (taxi industry). It’s good that numbers have been down-sized in a taxi for the purpose of social distancing because if we had not complied, this illness would kill us all and nobody would run the taxi industry.”
