The Minister of Transport issued new directives on Tuesday afternoon:
Public transport
Revised times
- Public transport (buses and taxis) will now be allowed an additional hour in the mornings to shuttle essential employees as well as a grace period of 1 hour before and 1 hour after their allotted time to shuttle essential employees back and forth between their work places.
- In other words, the allocated transport time for essential service employees is now as follows:
- 04h00 – 05h00: public transport may proceed to the pick-up points but may not load passengers yet.
- 05h00 – 10h00: public transport may load and ferry essential service employees to work.
- 10h00 – 11h00: public transport must proceed to drop off points and finalise the morning’s work.
- 15h00 – 16h00: public transport may proceed to the pick-up points but may not load passengers yet.
- 16h00 – 20h00: public transport may load and ferry essential service employees from work back to the drop off points.
- 20h00 – 21h00: public transport to finalise dropping off all passengers.
Please take note: There was a Gazette released yesterday (30 March) which allowed buses and taxis to operate from 05h00 until 20h00 “in order to cater for transportation needs of South Africans most vulnerable” from 30 March until 3 April. There are 2 important qualifications:
- This is only valid for 1 week (30 March – 3 April); and
- This only applies to “South Africans most vulnerable”.
There is no definition for ‘vulnerable’ but given the strict timeslots given for conveying essential service employees to work and back, one can only assume that it does not apply to them. This 1-week, special dispensation likely only applies to vulnerable people such as the aged or disabled to allow them to reach grocery stores, pharmacies or SASA payment points during the middle of the day. This does most likely not apply to essentials service employees as they have been assigned the specific timeslots outlined above.
Own transport
- The latest directive also allows private institutions or companies to make their own arrangements for the transportation of their workers who are rendering essential services.
- NB – the permits issued by the CEOs of these companies must now include the operating shifts or work schedules of these employees. This means that the permits issued by employers to their employees may have to be amended either by adding the timetable as an addendum or by issuing a new permit. A revised template which includes an addendum is attached.
Revised carrying capacity rules for taxis
The permitted carrying capacity has also been amended.
- Minibus and midibus taxis can carry 100% loading capacity provided all of the occupants are wearing masks
OR, if not everyone is wearing a mask:
- Any public transport vehicle must reduce its capacity to 70%;
- A minibus licenced to carry 10 is limited to 7;
- A minibus licenced to carry 15 is limited to 10;
- A midi-bus licenced to carry 22 is limited to 15; and
- A vehicle licenced to carry 4 is limited to 2.
- Trucks and busses were not mentioned by name which means they ,ay only carry up to 70% o their licenced capacity.
Herewith the link to the notice:
Disaster Management Act 57-2002 – Measures to prevent and combat spread of Covid-19 public transport amendment
Thanks for AFMA for sharing
www.afma.co.za
