Illustrative Image: The Gautrain's Centurion station in Pretoria. (Photo: Gallo Images / Foto24 / Christiaan Kotze) | Uber Technologies, Inc. is displayed on a smartphone screen. (Photo: Cheng Xin / Getty Images) | (By Daniella Lee Ming Yesca) 
When e-hailing operations were introduced in South Africa, they came with the purpose of disrupting the public transport industry. But the disruption has caused ongoing tensions between metered taxi operators and e-hailing drivers at many Gautrain stations in Gauteng.
After years of unresolved turf wars, many Gautrain stations have quietly become no-go zones for e-hailing drivers: not because of legal bylaws, but because metered operators prevent them from picking up passengers.
While commuters and e-hailing operators bear the brunt of violence and uncertainty, there are no clear answers from regulators, including the government.
Pretoria Gautrain Station
Nowhere are the tensions more glaring than at the Pretoria Gautrain station, where both drivers and commuters face risks.
Commuters seeking e-hailing services are forced to walk up to Visagie Street, out of sight of the station, to avoid metered taxi operators.
Pick-ups are strictly prohibited at the Pretoria Gautrain station, and e-hailing drivers drop off passengers at their own risk.
A leader of the metered taxi operators, Hendrik Ndou, told Daily Maverick he opposed tormenting passengers by forcing them to move out of sight to safely request an e-hailing ride.
Ndou said this was “very risky” and could lead to people being late or getting mugged.
Ndou said taxi operators were drafting a formal proposal to the City of Tshwane to establish a designated drop-and-go zone for e-hailing services at the Pretoria Gautrain station. Under the plan, Nodu said, e-hailing drivers would be allowed to drop passengers off at the station – “but not linger”. Metered taxis would be allowed to take onward trips.
After an Uber driver was killed in August, the Democratic Alliance in Gauteng said: “What is needed is a plan to deal with the so-called no-go zones for e-hailing drivers and to create a safe space for Gauteng commuters whose rights to choose were being infringed upon.”
Read more: ‘It stops here’ — Soweto residents blast taxi industry after murder of e-hailing driver
Johannesburg Park Station
Park Station is also on of the growing list of no-go zones for e-hailing drivers. Gautrain security personnel told Daily Maverick a verbal understanding between metered taxi operators and minibus taxi operators had firmly discouraged e-hailing pick-ups from the station.
“They drop off and leave,’’ one of the guards said. “They agreed with the taxis and e-hailing that e-hailing vehicles were only permitted to make drop-offs, and that agreement still stands as we have not witnessed any incidents,” he said, not wanting to give his name.
To get a ride, commuters must meet their driver at 209 Smit Street – two streets away.
Mbongiseni Mlotshwa, an Uber driver, said he had a pick-up outside the station. “Just before I closed the door for the customer as soon as she came into the car, a group of taxi guys appeared on both sides of the vehicle. They demanded that I open my app so that they can see if I wasn’t driving an Uber.”
After some begging and R200, Mlotshwa and his customer were released.
Hatfield Station
“Hatfield is still a hard place for e-hailing drivers and commuters, especially pick-ups. One has to be vigilant because there is also no proper enforcement for these things,” a Gautrain security officer at Hartfield Station said.
Pick-ups are prohibited, with only drop-offs allowed.
Gautrain commuter Carol-Anne O’Brien said that in January she did not have her car parked at the station, and needed to call an e-hailing service to get to work.
She had to walk two blocks to get her ride. After a scuffle with metered taxi operators at the entrance to the station, she managed to get away unharmed.
Rosebank Station
Rosebank Station has not experienced the same kind of threats against e-hailing drivers, but tensions exist, said security officers at the station.
“We do not allow meter taxis to park around here,’’ one said. “We also do not allow e-hailing cars to park, but we allow them to drop off as we have drop-off zones.”
Sandton Station
Gautrain’s Sandton Station remains a hotspot. Security personnel told Daily Maverick: “Here they beat you up if you help e-hailing customers or show them what to do to request safely. The metered taxi operators are ruthless here, and nothing has been done about it.”
It’s relatively safe to drop off at the Sandton Gautrain station, but pick-up is at 115 West Street. This is less than one kilometre away from the station.
“They [security personnel] held me up and told me that I had nowhere to run,” said Eric Moepeng, an Uber driver, after a confrontation with minibus taxi operators in Pretoria.
He was accused of encroaching by metered taxi operators.
Operating licences and complaints
Amid the tensions between the different groups, minibus and metered taxi drivers called for a level playing field. Daily Maverick was told that while minibus taxi and metered drivers needed to obtain operator licences, this did not apply to e-hailing drivers.
E-hailing drivers told Daily Maverick they were not dodging the law but were stuck in its queue. They said they had been issued “operating certificates”, which granted temporary rights while the wait drags on for official licences through a backlogged system.
Read more: E-hailing drivers demand action over frozen licence approvals while impoundment fees soar
The licensing backlog not only affects e-hailing operators, as many minibus taxi operators are also often hauled off the roads for operating illegally.
There’s also another issue: where to report dangerous encounters at stations. O’Brien, the commuter from Pretoria, said she’d tried to report her experiences to the Gautrain Management Agency (GMA), which is in charge of Gautrain.
Albi Modise, the GMA spokesperson, said while these incidents typically occurred outside the station and thus the GMA’s jurisdiction, “they nevertheless impact the broader travel experience of our passengers, particularly during the first and last mile of their journeys”.
Modise said the City of Tshwane was responsible for the Pretoria Gautrain Station.
However, Lindela Mashigo, the spokesperson for the City of Tshwane, said: “The city has never received any complaint in relation to e-hailing or taxi violence. Furthermore, cases of violence, intimidation or harassment, which relate to criminality, should be reported to the South African Police Service.”
Back and forth with the regulators
The spokesperson for the Gauteng Department of Transport and Roads, Lesiba Mpya, told EyeWitness News that the allegations around “no-go areas” were “still being tested”.
He said the department has engaged mall facilities to provide for e-hailing, similar to holding areas for minibus taxis.
Mpya said: “There shouldn’t be no-go areas.”
Daily Maverick asked what the department was doing to end the tensions, but Mpya did not provide direct answers.
He said: “Gautrain is our entity, and I am aware that around August, a similar query was adequately responded to by the Gautrain Management Agency [GMA] itself.”
“However, as stated above, the agency’s stance is such that it will not take much responsibility, backed by their claim that the incidents happen outside the Gautrain Station,” he said.
The SAPS did not directly respond to their role in the conflict, but referred Daily Maverick to the Department of Transport. The department was “better placed to comment on the matter”, said Johannesburg SAPS spokesperson, Captain Tintswalo Sibeko.
Uber also did not respond to specific questions but gave a generic response.
“Uber takes the safety of riders and drivers on the platform seriously, with multiple in-app features designed to offer support when it matters most. These include an emergency assistance button available to both riders and drivers, which can be activated at any time,” said Benjamin Harris, a representative of Uber.
“Uber has a feature which connects users to immediate help through access to private armed response and ambulance services.
“Safety remains a shared priority, and Uber is committed to continuously strengthening the tools and partnerships that help protect riders and drivers on every trip,” he said.
Vhatuka Mbelengwa, spokesperson for the South African E-hailing Association, called for more reliant safety technology and also intense screening of aspiring drivers.
“I think vetting every driver would eliminate undesirable and criminal elements who can also be traced,’’ Mbelengwa said. DM