Civil Engineering September 2021 | Vol 29 No 8

Civil Engineering September 2021 31 T his was the view expressed by Nico McLachlan, MD of Organisation Development Africa, in his keynote address at the recent 39 th Southern African Transport Conference. McLachlan said planners and policy makers also needed to shift their mindset about the place, role and potential contribution of the paratransit sector to mobility in the cities of the developing world. “Planners and policymakers should see the paratransit sector as a partner in change,” he said. McLachlan added that to break negative views about the sector, owners, drivers, conductors, and support staff will have to find ways of improving the value of behaviour and the image of the para- transit industry and learn how to work with those in positions of authority. At the same time, professionals and decision makers responsible for public transport planning, regulation and contracting will have to adopt open minds about the po- tential of the paratransit sector to reform and to assume its rightful place in the urban mobility systems of the future. AFRICAN SUCCESS STORIES Citing success stories in African cities, McLachlan reminded delegates that 10 years ago, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, South Africa had managed to build highly productive partnerships between public authorities, rail, bus and minibus taxi operators to provide world-class public transport services in support of the event. A second good news story, Kigali in Rwanda resolved uncontrolled growth in the paratransit sector through regulatory authorities engaging with minibus taxi as- sociations to establish a zonal regulatory system, interchange facilities, cashless fare systems and integrated scheduled services across contract zones. Using regulatory reform to initiate paratransit reform in Kigali was a story of public-private part- nership, based on shared objectives. McLachlan also described a pilot taxi project in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town. A feeder association successfully introduced and sustained a scheduled services model for 19 months, reducing its fleet size from 78 to 36 vehicles, cutting fuel con- sumption by 45%, increasing routes and introducing a shift system that reduced the driver workday from 12 hours to 7.5 hours. The city of Cape Town has now committed to incorporating minibus taxis as service providers in future phases of the city’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. Another example is Kampala in Uganda, one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities, which used a phased introduction of a BRT system to alleviate congestion, with the paratransit sector participating meaningfully in the process. BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS “Partnerships between government and the paratransit sector work because of complementarity, which builds trust,” said McLachlan, adding that government should be prepared to provide supporting infrastructure like interchange facilities, depots and overnight staging. “Government has responsibility to regulate supply in the public transport arena, and to apply barriers to entry to prevent oversupply in the interests of passengers, operators and the authorities,” he said. “The time has come for a new deal to be brokered between government and the minibus taxi industry, where the industry assumes co-responsibility for regulating growth in supply, competition and market conditions.” McLachlan added that government should encourage business improvement and formalisation processes and consider contracting compliant minibus taxi entities to integrate the taxi industry into public transport improvement pro- grammes. “Government and its financing partners will also have to consider their role in alleviating the pressure on the industry from the current high costs of capital and access to technology,” he said. Government could guide and assist the industry in the areas of cashless fare sys- tems, fleet management systems and pas- senger information systems. Good gov- ernance offers a way for the taxi industry to build a business that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable and accountable to both shareholders and its broader stakeholder community. McLachlan said the industry would have to change dated and inhibiting prac- tices such as the daily owner target system and the ‘fill-n-go’ operating model, and to establish barriers to entry. “At a time when government is sending strong signals against corruption, the minibus taxi industry should follow suit and break the vicious cycle of jockeying for a place at the feeding trough.”  Time for a new deal for the SA taxi industry The time has come for a new deal between government and the minibus taxi industry, in which the industry assumes co-responsibility for the regulation of growth in supply, stable market conditions and new technology. Integration of the taxi industry into the public transport sector may offer many benefits (Credit: Photo by Gsalamander | CC BY-SA 4.0 )