Cape Town – The stoning of the City’s Dial-A-Ride vehicle with a vulnerable passenger on board has led to the suspension of the service in Nyanga until further notice.
Nyanga Dial-A-Ride(DAR) users were left stranded on Wednesday after the back windscreen of the vehicle was damaged.
DAR is an essential service for commuters with special needs who cannot make use of conventional transport.
The City said it will use its service provider to inform users once it is safe to operate in this area.
“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” said Urban Mobility mayco member Rob Quintas.
He said claims of racial targeting and profiling towards the taxi industry were salacious.
Nyanga was a scene of chaos last week when a number of cars including Golden Arrow buses were stoned and torched.
This was after the City had impounded a number of Toyota Avanzas used to transport people locally.
“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 Quintas.
He said City’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/CrossRoads, but only just more than half of these licences have been successfully applied for.
Cape Times