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Associations put brakes on 'BRT taxis'

TAXI associations are insisting on removing taxis from the road whose owners have joined the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit system.

TAXI associations are insisting on removing taxis from the road whose owners have joined the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit system.

Mhlabuzile Hadebe, chairperson of the Soweto Taxi Service (STS), told Sowetan yesterday that they had begun removing stickers from minibus taxis whose owners had joined BRT.

"Those individuals went behind our backs and committed to a system that we are against," said Hadebe.

"They have not yet been expelled from STS, but if they don't report to our office and explain why they joined BRT, they will ultimately lose their membership.

"If we remove the association stickers, the minibus taxi cannot operate on the road, so the owner should come back to us to explain his actions," he said.

"Our constitution allows us to act in this fashion.

"We have always held this viewpoint that up to today no one has been able to explain to us how BRT will not take our bread away."

Sowetan reported yesterday that a number of taxi owners had their membership annulled because they allowed their drivers to join BRT.

However, Philip Taaibosch, pictured, secretary-general of the South African National Taxi Council, said it was wrong for taxi associations to expel their members just because they had joined BRT.

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