Apparently 90% of taxi drivers obey the law. Do you agree?

The taxi industry is one of the most divisive industries in South Africa. Millions rely on it daily to reach their destinations. However, few know and understand what a day in the life of a taxi driver entails.

The Dobsonville, Roodepoort, Leratong, Johannesburg Taxi Association (Dorljota) is one of the premier taxi associations on the West Rand. One of their rank stewards, Archie Molefe, sat down with the Record and told his story. He claims that 90% of taxi drivers obey the law. Do you agree?

“We get up at 3am and leave for the rank an hour later. There are numerous taxi points for Dorljota taxis that make their way to Westgate Mall. At those points, we wait for passengers who generally arrive at 5.30am, one at a time. We as drivers have to be patient and wait, but the passenger wouldn’t even be seated for 30 minutes before complaining. It’s either the taxi is not getting full or it’s slow. The late passenger will be the one pressuring us, and that’s one of the reasons you see some of the taxi drivers on the road driving the way they do,” he said.

The morning rush for Archie and his colleagues only slows down after 8am, when most people are at work. They then return to the Westgate rank where they dropped off their passengers, and the cycle continues.

“Our taxis go out to different locations such as Princess Crossing and Horizon View where we pick up passengers. We bring them to the rank for free to find the taxi they require. That is part of bringing service to the people,” he said.

One of the complaints from the community is about the appalling behaviour of taxi drivers who bully their fellow drivers. But Archie claims those taxi drivers are not as common as the community thinks.

“Our association provides customer service training for all of our drivers. On a weekly basis, a number of drivers are chosen to attend these training sessions. Like any big organisation, there will be a few bad apples, but 90% of us obey the laws of the road. Unfortunately, the training does not reach all of the drivers – but we are trying. All the community sees is one or two drivers breaking the law and the rest of us are painted with the same brush,” he said.

“I am what I am because of this industry. I have raised my children because of this profession which puts food on my table every night. The community sometimes thinks the industry is full of idiots but they would be surprised at the number of educated people we have. Guys who just cannot find jobs have had to become taxi drivers because that’s what their circumstances dictated. If you have gone to school, have a licence and can’t find a job, then what will you do? It’s better than turning to a life of drugs, whether it’s using or selling them, or a life of crime. Dorljota is a big company and is not child’s play. We have a fuel station. Some people who started as drivers have now become owners or executive members of the association.”

According to Archie, one of the biggest obstacles for taxi drivers is getting taxi stops that are where the passenger wants to disembark.

“We have tried approaching the JMPD and Johannesburg Roads Agency to try to get designated taxi stops, just like buses, but we are still waiting. Sometimes we believe there is a double standard when we’re compared to buses. They stop at places which aren’t marked for buses yet nobody ever complains, but when a taxi does it then it becomes a problem. I am not excusing the behaviour and what we do but I want to stress that so much could be avoided if we had taxi stops just like buses. Especially if those stops are at places where people actually wait and want to be dropped off, and not too far from where they want to go,” he said.

Archie added that the taxi rank has been using the Westgate basement for a number of years, but issues in the area have increased. During peak traffic it becomes a nightmare because vehicles drive past and we don’t have traffic lights to help us. We are then forced to do illegal manoeuvres just to drive from or into the basement. The JMPD target us because we bend the law but we have no other choice. When we do the same on the road, we do it out of necessity, not because we want to hurt or anger anyone. We don’t leave our homes telling ourselves we will cause an accident or get people killed, we are not that heartless. But at the end of the day we have to keep our customers happy and that sometimes means getting them to their destinations on time. We have been trying to remain engaged with the municipality to get somewhere. but to no avail.”

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