The moratorium on new applications for metered-taxi operating licences was lifted in February 2023 and has been executed in two phases. The first phase allowed the holders of some 711 lapsed metered-taxi operating licences to apply for the renewal of the said lapsed operating licences by 28 February 2023. The second phase commenced on 1 March 2023 and allowed new entrants to the metered-taxi industry to apply for an additional 2 643 new metered-taxi operating licences.
· 76 applications were received during the first phase, and a further two operators requested an extension of the period to lodge applications. The balance (635) of the 711 lapsed licences were carried over to the second phase
In total, 3 278 new operating licences were made available during the second phase that commenced on 1 March 2023
There are currently 6 991 applications pending consideration by the Western Cape Provincial Regulatory Entity (PRE)
To date, 2 958 applications have been considered favourably, and 973 of those operating licences have been uplifted by the applicants.
Once an application has been approved, the applicant has 60 calendar days to submit the necessary documents in order to uplift the operating licence, among which a tax clearance certificate, a statement regarding compliance with labour laws, current roadworthy certification, proof that the vehicle is properly licensed, and so forth. An applicant may request for a once-off 30-day extension to submit the documents. Unfortunately, many applicants are unable to submit the required documents within the prescribed period, and this results in the lapsing of the approval. Consequently, not all of the applications approved by the PRE will thus result in actual operating licences being uplifted
Given the above numbers, the City and the PRE can confirm that new applications for metered- taxi operating licences may not be supported as the current number of pending applications (6 991) already exceeds the number of new operating licences (3 278) that were made available to the metered-taxi industry in February 2023.
Once all of the current 3 278 operating licenses have been taken up, the City and PRE will make an assessment of when an additional allocation can be made. As such, the City will continually revisit its demand analysis in accordance with its data driven model, and should the model establish an under supply of operating licences, these will be made available to the market.
Each application carries a fee of R300, thus, it is important that prospective operators take into account that there are already more applications in the system than what can be considered favourably.
The National Land Transport Act requires all public transport service providers to be in possession of a valid operating licence to transport commuters. Those who operate without a valid operating licence stand the risk of being fined, or having their vehicles impounded.
‘The PRE is providing as much guidance and support as possible to operators to enable them to comply with legal prescripts and to submit applications that are fully and properly completed. This is our way of making sure that metered-taxi operators are compliant with the law and that passengers are transported safely. Mobility is critical to enable residents to participate in the economy, and we will keep on doing all we can to enable the metered-taxi industry to conduct their business in a safe and responsible manner,’ said the Western Cape Minister of Mobility, Ricardo Mackenzie.
‘The metered-taxi industry is an important public transport stakeholder. However, as is the case for all operators who provide a public transport service, the metered-taxi operators must have a valid operating licence to do so. In February the City supported an additional 2 643 new operating licences for this industry, and unfortunately, the number of applications at the PRE now far exceeds the available licences – in fact, it is more than double. Prospective operators must please take this factor into consideration, and be aware that their applications may not be successful,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas.
