WATCH:Gauteng corona interventions
The Gauteng province has been the commercial hub of South Africa for many years. The vibrant economic and commercial activity in this province is supported by a transport sector which caters for passenger transportation and movement of commercial goods. With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Gauteng province which is also the epicentre of the virus in the country, has seen its developed transport infrastructure and systems adversely impacted with various measures and interventions being put in place to keep the sector operational while protecting lives. How has the transport sector been affected?
Air Transport
- Passenger flights are currently not flying with only private jets, cargo planes and repatriation flights being allowed to land and take off in various airports. However, cargo from any high-risk country must be sanitised.
Rail
- All public and private long-distance passenger rail services such as Metrorail and Gautrain have been shut down.
Taxis
Minibus taxis:
- They are 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%.
- Passengers must sanitise their hands prior to entry.
Metered taxis and e-hailing:
- Metered taxis and e-hailing vehicles are 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.
What is being done to keep commuters safe in Gauteng?
A quick check around various public transport facilities shows a deliberate effort by industry players to adhere to stipulated regulations. Speaking in an interview, Gauteng Transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo who was on a field visit, expressed his feelings with regards to public transport in the midst of the coronavirus.
“I must emphasise that commuters must be sanitised and taxis disinfected. We are also giving gloves to passengers and drivers in taxis. In the taxi it’s dangerous, one passenger can cause the spreading of the virus, so all measures must be adhered to. As a provincial government, we consulted the taxi industry, arrests are continuing, its non-negotiable, the law will take its course,” said Mamabolo.
The roll out of various intervention measures have not been done without the involvement of key industry stakeholders such as taxi associations. This proactive partnership between the government and taxi industry players was applauded and highlighted in an interview with Theo Malele who belongs to the National Taxi Alliance.
“We support this government initiative; we have always advocated for this sanitisation and disinfection and we made our intensions clear and very early. We are very happy with the government support we are getting. We can only hope these measures we are seeing here in Gauteng gets emulated in other provinces. Aspects of social distancing translates in loss of revenue for us but we are liaising with the minister of transport so that this is addressed as a matter of urgency to alleviate falling into bankruptcy”, said Theo.
Speaking in a separate interview, Matsidikane Mwane disclosed that R3 million has been made available to deal with coronavirus intervention measures in taxis and ranks across the country.
“The bulk of the money will be used in Gauteng which is the epicentre of the virus as seen from the numbers. The rest as indicated by the MEC will be distributed to the rest of the country to buy protective clothing such as gloves, face masks, sanitisers, etc.” emphasised Mwane.
Taxi drivers who have been at the centre of transportation regulation adherence have also displayed cooperation in the ongoing efforts to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus on public transport.
Mandla Ndanisa, a taxi driver under Tembisa Taxi Association commended government efforts, but expressed his desired to see more being done to safeguard driver and consumer lives and interests.
“This thing of corona is a big concern to us and has affected our revenue, associations have been supplying us with protective products but these not enough, because you find me I have but another driver doesn’t have, we hope everyone can have access to protective clothing and disinfecting products,” concluded Mandla.
