The City of Cape Town has suspended its Dial-A-Ride service in Nyanga until further notice. This is after one of the City’s Dial-a-Ride vehicles was stoned earlier today, 31 August 2022 in Nyanga. The back windscreen of the vehicle was stoned while one vulnerable passenger was already on board. The ongoing violence in Nyanga over the past week has impacted the City’s Urban Mobility Directorate’s services in the area.

Dial-A-Ride(DAR) users from Nyanga were therefore unfortunately not transported today due to the violence. The City, through its service provider, will inform users once it is safe to operate in this area. DAR is an essential service for commuters with special needs who cannot make use of conventional transport.

The City cannot risk the lives of the passengers and its staff while this violence continues and will only resume operations once it is safe to do so.

'I condemn these acts of violence in the strongest possible terms. The targeting of vulnerable residents as with today's Dial-a-Ride incident is unacceptable and cannot happen. The livelihood of these vulnerable passengers depend on the availability of the DAR services, these residents are being heavily impacted by this suspension, but we cannot risk their safety while this unrest continues. We have also received a report of a GABS vehicle that was set alight at NY5 earlier opposite the cemetery in Nyanga, where one female GABS official has been injured. The wholesale destruction of these service delivery vehicles stops the delivery of essential services to the communities that need it most.'

'I also reject salacious claims on social media about any form of racial targeting and profiling towards the taxi industry. I again want to remind the industry of the 170 permits available for the uptake and which still need to be applied for in order for them not to fall foul of the law', said the City's Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, Councillor Rob Quintas.

The City of Cape Town's Urban Mobility Directorate, has, since 2015, agreed to support the issuing of 400 operating licences for Kiki Murray Taxi Association (Amaphela) operating sedan minibus taxi services in Nyanga/Cross Roads, but only just more than half of these licenses have been successfully applied for.

To date, only 230 of the agreed upon 400 operating licences have successfully been applied for.

Source: City Of Cape Town