Trickle of train seats leaves commuters in taxi crossfire

Days after the reopening of a downgraded Metrorail system - running three corridors at just 15% of capacity - millions of South African commuters have been caught in a showdown between the state and the minibus taxi industry.

This week the South African National Taxi Association (Santaco) made good on threats to flout Covid-19 regulations, including cramming taxis to the load limit and reopening inter-provincial routes, in what health experts said could become a Covid "super-spreading event".

Santaco spokesperson Thabiso Molelekwa said they were still in talks with the transport department.

The organisation rejected a R1.35bn financial relief package to make up for shortfalls due to capped loading capacity and a ban on long-distance routes implemented to stem Covid-19 infections.

Transport experts said millions of commuters are paying the price. With Metrorail unable to ferry even a fraction of those it usually does, workers rely on buses and taxis.

For Pretoria security guard Nkosinathi Ndlovu, the train had offered a cheap commute, but its unreliability pushed him to spend hundreds of rands more per month to use the bus.

"The 15% loading capacity will make it more unreliable because they will only be allowed a handful of passengers," he said.

Mamelodi domestic worker Caroline Hlapi, who uses a bus and taxi in her daily commute, said the bus service adheres to social distancing and cleanliness regulations but taxi operators are a law unto themselves.

"Every day I leave my house I pray for my safety ... they don't fill the bus to capacity and there's always space between passengers, but in the taxi they don't care," she said.

Mmeli Dube of civil action group UniteBehind said Metrorail's partial reopening would bring little respite to commuters.

"The dysfunctionality of the commuter train network contributes to the standoff between the transport department and the taxi industry. Taxi operators see the opportunity to be recalcitrant and raise load capacity above 70% while also hiking their fares," he said.

"This gives them a very strong hand at the negotiating table, because without trains there is no alternative."

Public transport expert Jack van der Merwe said the limited rail offering will leave many stuck. "Metrorail has opened three corridors of the 11 they have; they have limited capacity and they are not stopping at every station. A significant block of the workforce has been left in the cold," he said.

Prasa spokesperson Makhosini Mgitywa said vandalism had caused disruptions just days into offering the limited service. He said the pandemic had had an considerable effect on cash flow and the transport department had funded the reopening this week.

Professor Jackie Walters of the University of Johannesburg's college of business and economics said neither taxis and buses nor trains could be financially viable with the current caps.

"You have a trade-off with public transport having the potential to spread the virus rapidly through the commuters, but we can't kill this industry."

A case in point is the Gautrain, which offered limited operations during level 4 and an expanded one in level 3.

Spokesperson Barbara Jenson said: "Before the outbreak we averaged between 60,000 and 66,000 passengers a day and about 15% of that on our buses. On Wednesday we had 6,833 passengers on the train and just over 3,000 on the buses."

Bus operator Putco said it too is weighing the financial impact of the pandemic, operating with 50% of its workforce.

Spokesperson Witness Mhlongo-Chuene said: "There are still some business sectors which remain closed. As a result not all the regular commuters Putco had prior to the Covid lockdown period are working."

Putco transported 250,000 people a day before the lockdown.

The City of Cape Town's municipal bus firm MyCiti transported 70,000 passengers a day before lockdown. This dropped to below 10,000 during level 5. Demand is slowly increasing, climbing to just over 20,000.

"The difference is understandable, given that not all people have returned to work yet, some may have lost their jobs, others may be working from home," said City of Cape Town's Felicity Purchase.

Joburg's Rea Vaya spokesperson, Benny Magogo, said there is high demand for buses, but social distancing requirements mean many are turned away. It ferried "50,000 passengers a day before the lockdown period and currently 17,000 passengers".