Moneyweb reports that the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) has made a U-turn on its plans to stage a shutdown in Gauteng on 22 June to demonstrate its opposition to the Covid-19 lockdown regulations that are limiting taxi operators’ ability to operate and make ends meet.  

Its members met last Wednesday to discuss the plans.  Spokesperson Thabisho Molelekwa noted that since the onset of the lockdown the taxi industry had been operating at a loss:  “At 70% [passenger capacity] you are not making a profit. These taxi operators were losing money to the point that if we had not moved to 70% capacity, they would have had to stop operating completely.”  During the first phase of the national lockdown taxi operators could only operate at 50% passenger capacity, which according to Molelekwa resulted in only 10% of the total fleet of taxis working.  The Alexandra Taxi Association responding by saying that its members would increase their fares by 172%.  However, Santaco deemed it “unrealistic” to expect cash-strapped passengers to afford such an increase.  A fare increase has however not been ruled out completely.  Meantime, users of the Gautrain will see no increase in fares until the lockdown has been lifted.  Uber has also announced that it will not be increasing its prices for now.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Melitta Ngalonkulu at Moneyweb

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