Business development training at UCT empowers taxi operators

The City of Cape Town is providing business development training facilitated by the University of Cape Town to taxi operators from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha, Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille has announced in a statement.

In line with our vision to create an opportunity city, the City of Cape Town is providing business development training facilitated by the University of Cape Town (UCT) to taxi operators from Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha.

In rolling out our vision to enable economic growth, it is especially crucial to do so with our partners and various role players from previously disadvantaged areas, and in this case, the informal taxi industry.

The N2 Express was the first MyCiTi service rolled out to the metro south-east and has provided the communities of Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha with an affordable, reliable and quality transport service.

The N2 Express is operated by a vehicle operating company (VOC) which is made up of members of Codeta in Khayelitsha, Route Six Taxi Association in Mitchells Plain, and Golden Arrow Bus Services (GABS).

As part of industry transition for MyCiTi operations, the City of Cape Town is providing this business development training to equip taxi operators who form part of the VOC with greater business skills and knowledge. This underscores our commitment to creating an opportunity city.

The training represents an investment of approximately R39 million.

The capacitation training consists of four courses:

• Entry-level orientation to South African company law and foundations of corporate governance. This is being conducted by Lee's Legal Compliance Services (PTY) Limited.
• Introduction to management, with specific focus on: planning, organising, leading, control and people management. This is being facilitated by CMB Training, a management training firm.
• Introduction to public transport planning and management. This is facilitated by UCT in consultation with senior Transport for Cape Town (TCT) officials.
• Introduction to bus operating contract models and the management of scheduled transport operations. This is facilitated by UCT with TCT officials.

These courses are currently underway at UCT for 90 members selected by the taxi associations.

To date, two phases have been completed, with two remaining courses in progress.

The capacitation training will allow the members of the Mitchells Plain and Codeta taxi associations the opportunity to develop the requisite capacity to manage large-scale bus operations in the future.

I am pleased that the members of these taxi associations have welcomed the training with optimism and excitement, and have displayed a great level of participation and interaction during training sessions.

Senior members from the taxi associations have also reported that their members found the training to be enlightening, educational and of great value to future businesses.

While this is the first training of its kind that we are providing, we intend to continue doing so in future phases of MyCiTi and other transformation processes, as training and capacitation of the minibus-taxi industry is an integral part of the success of MyCiTi.

Transport for Cape Town (TCT) is continually looking at ways to develop and transform the industry to ensure smooth industry transition. Ultimately, this will benefit our commuters with the provision of a safe, reliable public transport service that is always improving.

This initiative is another example of how the City is making progress possible together with our partners.

With this training, we are reinforcing our commitment to deliver a world-class transport service to our residents.

Statement by Cape Town's executive mayor Patricia de Lille, issued by Integrated Strategic Communication, Branding and Marketing Department, City of Cape Town.