Taxify driver describes his fear‚ and his family's worry

A driver for the e-hailing app Taxify is excited that he can work in improved safety‚ with the launch of a SOS button that promises to bring police or emergency services to his location within seconds.

Brian Maphosa said he works in fear as intimidation by conventional meter-taxi drivers persists.

“As a guy who was once involved in a hijacking while working‚ I feel scared and helpless at times. We come across some intimidation and it’s something we have learned to live with‚” Maphosa said.

Maphosa‚ who looks after his family‚ said they constantly worry about him.

“One night my younger sister called me at around 10pm and asked if I was safe. She said she was worried about me because she heard news that a driver was torched and attacked. That’s why I am relieved about the new system coming to help us‚” Maphosa said.

Maphosa was among drivers who attended the launch of the pilot-phase integration of the Namola crime prevention and security application into Taxify at Newtown‚ Johannesburg‚ on Wednesday.

“Rider and driver safety is our first and foremost priority. The safety button will allow Taxify drivers to access rapid deployment of the correct emergency response‚ should they find themselves in danger‚” said Taxify's country manager Gareth Taylor.

The emergency button is available for drivers on the application.

“The partnership with Taxify will help alleviate some of the distressing situations that drivers can face. The app is available to all South Africans and has been found to be particularly useful in volatile areas‚” said Peter Matthaei‚ Namola’s CEO.

The identified hotspots for ehailing cab drivers are specific areas in Soweto‚ Yeoville and Pretoria.

Taylor‚ commenting on the attacks on e-hailing drivers and the police response to the problem‚ said they are committed to engaging the police but they can only do so much.

“There are some issues‚ we know about them. What’s in our control is be transparent‚ on the information we get‚ with them. We don’t have any control on the police force‚” said Taylor.

Taxify drivers have previously highlighted a concern that they do not know a rider's destination beforehand.

Defending why drivers don’t have rider destination information‚ Taylor said putting in a destination was not compulsory before‚ because they wanted to make the ride as flexible as possible. “Sometimes you want to go to more than one place and so the app is not going to limit you in that sense‚” he said.

However‚ the application will soon make it compulsory for riders to enter their destinations.

Taxify in future plans to also give drivers the option to reject cash payment rides‚ which most drivers say makes them vulnerable.

Namola‚ in a separate statement‚ said 150‚000 South Africans have so far downloaded its free crime response app. The app promises to give people access to emergency services at the press of a button - sharing the nature of the incident as well as an exact GPS location with a 24/7 response call centre for rapid response.