Minibus Industry under scrutiny in Transport Workshop

The Integrating Public Transport: Rethinking the Role of the Minibus Taxi Industry workshop brought together minibus taxi associations, taxi operators and local, provincial and national government officials who are overseeing public transport and the regulation of the transport industry. The Department of Transport, the City Support Programme in the National Treasury, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and the South African Cities Network all partnered with the GSPDPP to produce the workshop, which was funded by the Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC) in the National Treasury.

“The workshop aimed to create space for conversations among role players regarding different issues involved in integrating the minibus taxi industry into the public transport system,” said Hannah Diaz, Programme Coordinator for the Executive Short Courses programme at GSDPP.

The workshop sought to articulate a vision for the minibus taxi industry as part of an integrated public transport system, to identify the explicit and implicit rules and incentives governing the industry, and to identify opportunities within the industry for business development and innovation.

Issues that were discussed include: how to integrate the minibus taxi industry into the larger public transport networks, international trends with regards to public transport and innovative solutions to urban transport challenges.