Cape Argus (Cape Town)
Clayton Barnes
3 November 2009
With just 30 weeks before the World Cup kick-off, taxi operators have refused to continue talks with the City of Cape Town over the implementation of the integrated rapid transit (IRT) system.
Taxi operators walked out of an IRT workshop with mayor Dan Plato yesterday after he rejected a proposal to hold a conference for the province's more than 5 000 taxi drivers to explain the IRT process.
Speaking after the meeting, Western Cape National Taxi Association (NTA) spokesman Mvuyisi Mente said talks had deadlocked and that it was now up to the city council to contact them with a date for a provincial "indaba".
He said the NTA had not agreed to a workshop with Plato. It wanted all the province's taxi operators present at an event where they could "flesh out" the IRT issue.
"We are willing to co-operate, but we want a provincial indaba where all our members can air their views and give their opinions," said Mente.
"It is now up to the city to decide. They can continue with the infrastructure for the IRT, but without us it's impossible to operate that new system."
The city council said a request for a commitment to a joint province-wide conference was presented as a prerequisite to discussing the IRT further.
The council indicated that it was not in a position to agree to the conference without referring to the broader industry.
"It should also be noted that the city has held a number of industry meetings that the NTA has refused to participate in. The city continues to engage successfully with other taxi associations in the phase 1A area," the council said.
Plato said the council would proceed with the IRT and its engagement with the taxi industry within the national government framework.
"While the city is disappointed that despite a prior agreement on the agenda we were not able to share information with the NTA representatives and their associates, we remain willing to further engage and explore the issues with (them)," he said.
Last week the council said the IRT cost shock would delay the planned roll-out of the project, but not stop it. The cost of the system has risen from R1,3-billion to R4,1bn.
At the time, Plato said parts of the system would be implemented for the World Cup and talks with the taxi industry would continue.
In the absence of phase 1 of the IRT system, the council has promised to implement a shuttle service for fans during the World Cup.
Revealing some of the city's 2010 transport plans yesterday, council media manager Kylie Hatton, said there would be a match-day and an airport shuttle service during the tournament. The council was still finalising how and where an inner-city circulatory service would operate, she said.
The match-day shuttle service would operate between the stadium IRT station and the Civic Centre IRT station in Hertzog Boulevard. The airport shuttle service was expected to run every 15 minutes between the IRT station at the airport and civic centre station, said Hatton. The council is buying special buses for this purpose.
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