New e-hailing regulations to boost safety and compliance

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy has announced that her department plans to publish new regulations this month which will incorporate e-hailing services into the national regulatory framework.

Creecy said the new regulations will require e-hailing operators to obtain operating licenses and to ensure their services are authorised and safe.

“These rules establish clear standards for quality and security, support legal compliance, and aim to reduce conflict between operators while improving overall safety,” Creecy said.

She was responding in the National Assembly when EFF chief whip Nontando Nolutshungu asked her about measures her department will implement to protect e-hailing drivers and foster harmony within the taxi industry following the surge in violence targeting e-hailing operators, with the recent incidents reported at Maponya Mall in Gauteng.

As part of the rollout, Creecy said her department was conducting targeted workshops and public awareness campaigns to educate stakeholders on the updated regulatory framework and to clarify the new rules for e-hailing services.

“These continuous platforms for dialogue and information-sharing are essential to foster mutual understanding and improved cooperation across the public transport industry, thereby contributing to a more integrated and stable public transport system.”

Creecy also said law enforcement agencies were prepared to address any criminal activity and possible violence between taxi operators and e-hailing drivers.

“The department remains committed to ongoing engagement with key stakeholders to promote the safe and harmonious coexistence of all modes of transport. Government is always prepared, as has been the case in the past, to bring disputing parties to the table for mediation purposes to resolve conflict.”

She noted that Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia has requested Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola to develop a deployment plan and identify hotspots for proactive and pre-emptive law enforcement to curb and deal with conflict and violence.

EFF MP Mazwikayise Blose said while the amendments in the National Road Land regulations were awaited, the cohesion between the taxi industry and e-hailing services was non-existent.

“These fights and these battles that we see regarding what had happened in Maponya are not an isolated incident. It's not a first of its kind,” he said.

Creecy said it was not as if there was no regulatory framework for e-hailing services before the promulgation of the regulations.

The interaction with MECs in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal has shed light on the disputes that have arisen between the e-hailers and the taxi industry.

“Both indicated to me that in the incidents that have taken place, there have been actors involved who may not be formally defined as either members of the taxi industry or members of the e-hailing industry.

“And in interactions I have had myself with the taxi industry, they have said the same thing to me, and that is why we thought it appropriate to meet with the Minister of Police and make sure that there is proactive deployment to hotspots so that we can protect legitimate operators in both industries and, of course, commuters, from getting caught up in the crossfire,” she said.

Creecy said there was always room to improve legislation, but indicated conflict was not an abstract issue.

“It is something that happens between human beings because of constrained economic circumstances or because there is competition over particular routes and particular passengers.

“Conflict can't be solved by regulation; it has to be solved by mediation, by education, and where that fails, there has to be law enforcement operations.”

Cape Times