More than 3000 unroadworthy taxis to be scrapped

The National Department of Transport has lauded the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme (TRP) as a huge success following the scrapping of over 81 000 old taxi vehicles with a pay out of more than R5,6bn scrapping allowance to taxi operators since its inception in October 2006 to March 2023.

According to the department, the TRP continues to make significant strides in changing the face of the taxi industry – away from what was normally referred to as moving coffin taxi vehicles, which characterised the face of the industry to modern day safer taxi vehicles.

The programme included

• The introduction of safety requirements for passengers
• The comfort for passengers by insisting on the size and number of seats
• The promotion of accessibility on the size and number of seats
• The branding and colour coding of taxi vehicles so that legal taxis can be identified and differentiated from illegal ones, and so that members of the public can easily identify a taxi vehicle.

The Department of Transport Spokesperson Collen Msibi said unroadworthy vehicles were the
largest contributors to road accidents.

“The majority of taxi vehicles meet all the safety requirements through the taxi recap [Taxi Recapitalisation Programme] programme – which included among others safety belts and rollover bars.

When the TRP started in 2006, the target was to scrap 135 000 old taxis, with scrapping allowance set at R50 000. Over 81 000 old taxi vehicles have now been scrapped with the scrapping allowance increased to R151 000 since the beginning of April 2023.

As TRP approaches its 18th year anniversary in October 2023, the Department plans to scrap 3 750 old taxi vehicles in the current financial year and will continue to work with the taxi associations to encourage their members to scrap old taxi vehicles.