Going cashless can solve many of the issues facing ride-hailing services such as Uber and Bolt in South Africa.
Western Cape e-hailing Association (WCEA) spokesperson Siyabonga Hlabisa explains that removing cash from the equation altogether carries significant benefits in terms of safety for both the drivers and users of the e-hailing apps.
This comes after Bolt axed over 6,000 drivers from its platform in under six months due to safety and non-compliance concerns.
Hlabisa told Newzroom Afrika that the majority of crime-related issues affecting drivers and patrons of e-hailing apps stem from the allowance of cash to pay for rides.
Not being required to link a bank card to an account to use the services makes it easy for criminals to lure drivers into traps using fake accounts without being detected. Having sizeable amounts of cash in the vehicle at most times also makes the drivers attractive targets.
Similarly, knowing many users carry money on them to pay for their trips, criminals often use fraudulent documents to establish driver accounts in order to rob the riders once they get into the car.
Eliminating cash transactions altogether will therefore remove these crime-motivating elements.
Hlabisa highlights that lacklustre verification processes on the part of the e-hailing companies further contribute to criminality in the industry.
At present, most e-hailing apps only require the driver to verify themselves but not the riders, once again a factor that is being exploited by hijackers and robbers.
Bolt in 2023 therefore decided to ask all new riders for verification through uploading their ID and submitting a photo of themselves, which the WCEA hopes is a practice that will be adopted by other companies in the e-hailing sphere.
Big changes for Uber and Bolt
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently signed into law the amended National Land Transport Act (NLTA), bringing significant changes to the e-hailing sector in South Africa.
Under the new regulations, e-hailing drivers will no longer be required to use charter permits and meter taxi operating licences.
Instead, the altered legislation defines a new category of operating licence which introduces new obligations for e-hailing services to prevent illegal operators on their platforms with a penalty of up to R100,000 for non-compliance.
Provincial regulators are now also empowered to withdraw or suspend licences in cases where an operator has contravened the NLTA or the Roads Act.
Another major change brought about by the amended NLTA is that it gives the Minister of Transport limited powers to set the price of e-hailing rides – something that was previously left in the hands of the platforms.
E-hailing drivers have fervently complained that the prices currently charged by e-hailing platforms lack transparency and are too low for the operators to earn a decent income in the current landscape of excessively high fuel prices and living costs.
The revised legislation now allows the Minister of Transport to intervene, however, the new pricing system is still on the drawing board and has not yet impacted the day-to-day operations of the apps.
Join the discussion