As of April the 1st, Batswana should be able to make a distinction between a taxi driver and their conductors by their identification cards.
Gone are the days when a conductor or a taxi driver could hurl insults at a passenger and get away with it.
Now they are to be forced to wear name tags.
The revamping of the Gaborone Taxi and Local Bus Service Association (GTLBSA) comes at a time when polishing of services in preparation for 2010 World Cup is underway.
The taxi employees would also have to abide by a code of attire, formal to smart casual with the notion of a new uniform being introduced in the future.
According to Gibson Matenge, the chairperson of the association, the association’s strategic Plan for 2007-2010 has been implemented in recognition of the preparation for the World Cup because Gaborone is earmarked to host some of the participating teams.
“We are in collaboration with the police and the Department of Works and Transport so the public should expect positive results from this exercise, its about time these strategies are put in place, we have had a number of consultations with the industry and decided that failure to comply will receive disciplinary measures,” said Matenge.
The outcomes involved in the collaborations would be that all routes in Gaborone shall have routes marshals to monitor and evaluate operations of all routes in Gaborone on a daily basis as per conditions of permit and traffic regulations.
Matenge claims that the disciplinary measures are expected to be quite effective as they are talking in terms of not renewing licenses or permits for drivers who go against the soon to be implemented strategies.
A public service driving license is supposed to be renewed after every two years while permits are renewed on a yearly basis.
“We shall be keeping daily records for taxi services and advice complaints from the public for incompetent service, when it comes to issues of renewals we shall consult our records to see the history of the company to determine whether we should extend their permits or not,” said Matenge.
Matenge revealed to the Sunday Standard that as of the 1st of April all the taxi routes in Gaborone shall have a verification process.
Public transport employees shall have two attendance registers, one for daily attendance for drivers in each route and the other for meetings to be attended by all public transport employees.
According to Matenge the standard of hygiene for personal and public transport will be upped as the taxis are expected to be clean at all times. Loud music will no longer be tolerated
“The public should expect to see results, we mean business,” said Matenge.
