The taxi industry is worth R40-billion a year but operators are clueless about money.

Research released by the University of the Western Cape business school to coincide with national transport month also shows that taxi taxes are in tatters.

In 2014‚ the Department of Transport and Public Works estimated that the taxi industry carries about 65% of passengers “in the urban environment”‚ and that 20-million South Africans took a minibus taxi every day.

The UWC research said: “There are mover 8 000 taxi operators in the Western Cape‚ and commuters on average spend over 40% of their monthly income on public transport.

 “The City of Cape Town estimates that there are well over 332‚407 daily trips made by taxi commuters‚ making it the second largest form of public transport after rail.”

 UWC Master’s student Kagisho Motingwe and his supervisor‚ Pradeep Brijlal‚ found that taxi operators had limited financial management skills.

 “While the majority of taxi operators were found to be profitable‚ 84% and 72% of taxi owners respectively do not prepare financial statements nor perform financial analysis‚” they said.

 “It was noted that 62% of the taxi operators surveyed increased the number of taxis in their business by between one and five taxis over the past three years‚ indicating growth in the industry.”

The study was conducted in the Cape Town’s sprawling townships of Du Noon and Khayelitsha. It recommends that the taxi operators seek training in‚ among a myriad other things‚ recording financial transactions on a computer system‚ how to analyse financial statements and how to manage business tax matters.