I don’t normally use this forum as a place to have a rant.  Yet today I am annoyed. No… Not a strong enough word… I am PISSED OFF.  I found out today that the City of Cape Town has pulled the Monarch Tuksi Company off the road.  How did I find out about this? When I tried to get a ride from town to my place in Sea Point and had to fork out R80 for a metered taxi ride that would’ve cost me half that with the Tuksi.

Ah yes… pure genius. The City of Cape Town’s Robin Carlisle and Brett-lets-kill-all-the-small-kids-and-all-dogs-on-the-promenade-under-our-bicycle-wheels-Herron had a collective brain fart and pulled a very good idea off the road. All the while there are literally 100’s of unlicensed metered taxis running unregulated up and down the streets of Cape Town. Let us call this what it is – a fucking travesty. It is easier to cut corners like the typical politicians they are and pull the Monarchs from the road – guys who are TRYING to do things by the book – than it is to sort out the unlicensed, unroadworthy 1990 Toyota Tazz driven by an illegal immigrant.

Let us talk further about regulating the metered, LICENSED taxi industry. These are guys who work 24 hours on, 24 hours off. I’ve on more than one occasion been in a taxi (Sport Taxis were normally the culprits) where the guy told me he’s been on for 2 days straight, whilst he’s speeding down Adderley Street, looking so spaced out and tired that I fear for my life and for those of the pedestrians on the sidewalk.  Why is this allowed to happen  Messrs. Carlisle and Herron? Why don’t you do something about that? I bet you didn’t even know, because you’re more interested in holding on to your jobs than you are in serving the public. 

I wasn’t aware that there was an issue with the licenses for operating the Tuksi business in Cape Town until the Carte Blanche inset a week or 2 ago. It is such a brilliant business concept, and one that is sorely needed in our starved of proper public transport city.  I broke my own cardinal rule and actually watched that depressing show to see what’s going on. The Monarch Tuksi Company apparently does not fit into the City’s “Transport Plan”.  What plan is that?  The same plan where the My Citi buses haven’t started on its routes to Sea Point, Camps Bay and beyond because the 2 politicians previously mentioned (I use politician as the ugliest swear word I know) can’t get their shit together? The plan where operating licenses were issued to Monarch Tuksi Co in the first place? There is no plan here except to screw over the small guy. There is just the typical bumbling you get when you let a South African politician near anything – irrespective of the party they belong to.

So what are the options? With no My Citi buses to Sea Point and no Monarch Tuksi Co either we’re left with unreliable, expensive metered taxis – tons of them unlicensed. And of course the mini bus taxis and Golden Arrow buses where its a lottery whether you are going to arrive at your destination alive if at all. And of course your own car… don’t be surprised if there is a sudden spike in drinking and driving again. And that ladies and gentleman is the crux of the matter here. We want everyone to stop drinking and driving, but the 2 chops above just took away one of our options, and haven’t rolled out the other one yet because they didn’t do their homework properly. They are sitting in their ivory tower making decisions that affect normal people trying to adhere to the laws of the country and the laws of common decency and they are making it very difficult for us.

So there it is. Get the Monarch’s back on the road asap. Its an absolute joke that they’re being targeted when there are so much more wrong with public transport.  Who loses?  We do.

Rant… Over.

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