The City of Cape Town is working closely with e-hailing platforms, e-hailing operators and their associations in an effort to lift the current moratorium on applications for metered-taxi operating licences within the next few months. The moratorium was imposed on 24 February 2021 with the intention to ensure the long-term sustainability of the metered-taxi industry
‘Yesterday I received the memorandum of grievances and demands from the Western Cape E-hailing Association. I have informed the leadership that the City is making a huge effort to gather the data we need to determine the demand for and supply of e-hailing services in Cape Town. Once this data has been compiled and analysed, we will be able to determine how many operating licences are needed.
‘Importantly, when we reach this point we will be able to lift the current moratorium on applications for new operating licences. The City is working hard to lift the moratorium well ahead of the original planned date of December 2023 and is aiming to conclude this process within the end of the first quarter of 2023 at the latest,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas.
The Western Cape E-Hailing Association is encouraged to participate in the survey that will be conducted for developing the metered-taxi service demand method. This survey will resume soon and more information will be made available in due course.
‘I encourage commuters who make use of metered taxis and e-hailing services, the e-hailing operators as well as the e-hailing platforms, to work with the City to gather as much data as possible on how their services are used. I also request e-hailing platforms to make all existing data available to the City. The data we receive and gather will guide us in making an informed decision about the number of licences that can be supported, or whether the market is saturated. The more data we can get, the better. I would also like to assure the e-hailing services and operators that I am personally going to follow up on this on a weekly basis,’ said Councillor Quintas.
The City has, some time ago already, established the metered-taxi Intermodal Planning Subcommittee through which metered-taxi related issues and concerns are addressed.
‘E-hailing associations can also use this platform to raise concerns, and propose possible solutions while we are rushing to recommend the lifting of the moratorium ahead of time. By working together we can resolve challenges and create an operating model that is in the interest of commuters, operators, and those who have established e-hailing platforms in Cape Town,’ said Councillor Quintas.
Source: City Of Cape Town