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Speaker 1: Transport the driver of growth, job creation, incassivity and sustainability.

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Speaker 1: Seven OO live from the National Transport Conference.

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Speaker 2: It's twenty five minutes before ten o'clock. I'm going to

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Speaker 2: come to more of your calls and what's ups on

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Speaker 2: the seven or two open line in a moment. We're

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Speaker 2: in Midland today, as we've been hearing since we started

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Speaker 2: the show. We are live from the National Transport Conference

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Speaker 2: that's being hosted by the Department of Transport, and we've

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Speaker 2: got a number of stakeholders under one roof and the

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Speaker 2: whole idea is to discuss how to build a sustainable

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Speaker 2: transport system that works for the economy, for job creation

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Speaker 2: as well. Santaco is an important stakeholder of the Department

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Speaker 2: of Transport. Rebeka pala Is with Santaco joining me here

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Speaker 2: at our makeshift studio.

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Speaker 1: Rebecca, thank you so much for making time. Good morning,

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Speaker 1: morning and to your listeners.

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Speaker 2: So from the text the industry's perspective, how important are

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Speaker 2: platforms like this where government, investors and operators get engaged directly.

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Speaker 3: So the very formation of Santaquo came as a result

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Speaker 3: of engagements such as these. Back in two thousand and

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Speaker 3: one when government convened the taxi industry at the time,

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Speaker 3: it was varied organizations to work around a commonality that

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Speaker 3: would see us falling into one APAX body. So for

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Speaker 3: us at a time when post COVID, we're facing a

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Speaker 3: lot of challenges. Our operators are no longer able to

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Speaker 3: secure financial services to get new vehicles, our fleet of

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Speaker 3: vehicles are not in a good state. We've spoken to

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Speaker 3: you before about things of that sort, but the eight

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Speaker 3: old conversation of the subsidization of the taxi industry still

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Speaker 3: hasn't materialized much. So for us, it's important to gather

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Speaker 3: in this manner with government and other stakeholders to try

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Speaker 3: and work out a more feasible sort of solution towards

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Speaker 3: bettering the taxi industry because at the end of the day,

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Speaker 3: limit the taxi industry remains the biggest transport of South

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Speaker 3: Africa's commuting public on a daily basis.

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Speaker 2: And it's always been the backbone of public transport in

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Speaker 2: this country. So when we talk about subsidizations, what solutions

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Speaker 2: are you looking at at Santaco, What are you going

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Speaker 2: to be bringing on the table and what do you

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Speaker 2: make of the discussions also around formalization.

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Speaker 3: So there's a very important panel where we will be

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Speaker 3: setting our president will be making a presentation on those

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Speaker 3: very two issues. So since the twenty twenty National Taxilohotel,

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Speaker 3: there are a number of things that we've done as Santaco.

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Speaker 3: We have started corporatizing our taxi associations to move from

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Speaker 3: operating a sole proprietors to operators cooperatives. So the taxi

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Speaker 3: operators form a company and then they employ the drivers

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Speaker 3: and everybody else as employees to get some of the

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Speaker 3: employment benefits. But the process Clement, we will admit, has

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Speaker 3: been incredibly slow because a big part of it we've

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Speaker 3: been doing by ourselves. Government processes tend to take a

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Speaker 3: bit more time, so we're hoping that with this engagement,

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Speaker 3: one maybe there will be a progress report, but also

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Speaker 3: tangible solutions issues of subsidy. When you look at some

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Speaker 3: of the sectors that are already subsidized, your buses, your

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Speaker 3: rail they get so the subsidy is taken to the

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Speaker 3: commuter because remember, at the end of the day, the

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Speaker 3: person that feels it the most is always the commuter.

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Speaker 3: When taxi fares are increased because the taxi associations are

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Speaker 3: feeding the burone in terms of the socioeconomic realities. It's

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Speaker 3: the commuter that feels it. We've submitted to the department

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Speaker 3: in the past that there could be a tendering system.

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Speaker 3: For example, once these taxi associations are registered as cooperatives,

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Speaker 3: they tender into a particular municipality where they are faring commuters,

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Speaker 3: as has been done with the BRT system for example.

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Speaker 3: Then there's a particular sort of fee that gets given

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Speaker 3: to the cooperative in the form of their association. And

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Speaker 3: then in extension, you've got commuters not paying as much

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Speaker 3: as they are and at the same time you don't

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Speaker 3: have people being ferried in vehicles that are born out

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Speaker 3: by drivers who are not properly trained, and many other

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Speaker 3: sort of operational challenges that we continue to pay.

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Speaker 2: Now, what future do you envisage though, as the text industry.

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Speaker 1: How do you want to evolve? I mean, I'm just wondering.

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Speaker 2: Do you see technology, including maybe digital platforms or cashless

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Speaker 2: payments becoming more common in the taxi sector.

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Speaker 3: So we speak to you now. We have an automated

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Speaker 3: fair collection system that we've been piloting since last September

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Speaker 3: between Prataria, Renbeck and Social Kuve and it was important

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Speaker 3: for us to particularly hone into one route and get

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Speaker 3: it right because our industry is incredibly unique. So far,

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Speaker 3: the commuters are receiving it well. The system it works

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Speaker 3: in that you load money into a card similar to

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Speaker 3: a bus card, and then you just tappen the morning

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Speaker 3: and you keep it going. So far it's going very well.

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Speaker 3: So the industry is making in rods. We just don't

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Speaker 3: want to do it all at once and possibly face

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Speaker 3: the reality of not having dealt with teething problems and

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Speaker 3: things of that sort. So that's already happening. We've also

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Speaker 3: introduced technology in the form of SA system that allows

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Speaker 3: people to book, especially for long distance travel, to book

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Speaker 3: their traveled before they go, so that you're already It

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Speaker 3: gives an idea from the industry's perspective on the amount

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Speaker 3: of demand that's there for a particular root at a

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Speaker 3: particular time. So we are embracing technology. But we're also

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Speaker 3: here today because we know that some of the people

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Speaker 3: that are here are innovators that could also better improve

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Speaker 3: our services in the industry.

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Speaker 2: Roberta Pala, Santaco spokesperson, thank you so much for joining

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Speaker 2: us here in Midring at Gallagher Convention Center at the

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Speaker 2: National Transport Conference hosted by the Department of Transport.

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Speaker 1: It's nineteen minutes before ten o'clock