Directorate: Public Transport Regulation

The Public Transport Regulation Directorate was formally established in November 2002 with the appointment of the new Provincial Taxi Registrar, Mr John Kapueja. The first task was the consolidation of public transport regulation functions of the Department into the Directorate. To effect this, the Public Transport Licensing Board section of the Contract Management section and the Taxi Registrar section of the Chief Directorate, were moved to the Public Transport Regulation Directorate.

• Regulatory Bodies
  The Local Road Transportation Board was transformed into the Public Transport Licensing Board (PTLB) in 2002 as required by the NLTTA. This was prior to the establishment of the Directorate. The process of amalgamating the Provincial Taxi Registrar and the PTLB into a single regulatory body commenced with the establishment of the Directorate. This is to be completed on acceptance of the Provincial Land Transport Bill by Parliament in 2003.
  
  
• Provincial Taxi Registrar
  The main functions of the Taxi Registrar’s office are clearly set out in the KwaZulu-Natal Interim Minibus Taxi Act, 1998. These functions are to register associations, members, vehicles and their routes.
  
  Prior to the registered Associations and members being issued public transport operating licenses, it was necessary to verify the accuracy of the applications for operating licenses. Originally applicants for registration claimed they operated over 6,000 vehicles. Vehicle license checks showed that the number of vehicles was inflated and certain of the vehicles claimed to be minibus taxis were in fact other vehicle types.
  
  In 2002/2003, the Public Transport Enforcement Unit (PTEU) assisted with inspecting and verifying the vehicles that the operators applied for through the clean-up process. Statistics of the clean-up process are as follows
  
  - Original number of vehicles applied for registration +/- 6,000
  - Number of vehicles applied for the clean-up process 2,542
  - Number of members applied for the clean-up process 2,182
  - Clearly, this clean-up process did a valuable job in ensuring the accuracy of the vehicle    numbers operacy. This reduces conflict and improves service to passengers.
  
  
• Business Assistance
  The office has successfully assisted various associations to operate as business companies by providing business advice. These companies are operating within the association routes in response to the Minister’s call to taxi operators to start operating as business people. They are buying bigger vehicles and there are a number of other taxi associations who also wish to do the same.
  
  
• National Land Transport Information System (NLTIS)
  In order to improve the value of and access to information, the National Department of Transport developed an integrated public transport administration and information system, the NLTIS. The NLTIS is now available to all users via the Internet Explorer. Training has been undertaken to officials and registration information is now available on the system
  
  
• Public Transport Licensing Board (PTLB)
  In the 2002 / 2003 financial year, the PTLB processed and issued the following permit applications:
  
  

  (i)	New Applications	5271
  (ii)	Duplicate Permit	267
  (iii)	Temporary Permit	561
  (iv)	Transfer of Permit	475
  (v)	Additional Permit	55
  (vi)	Change of Particulars/ Add. Auth	59
  (vi)	Replacement of Vehicle	4 069
  (viii)	Renewal of Permit	337
  (ix)	Be Legal	9313
  (x)	Clean Up	2214
  (xi)	Conversion	662

  
  
  The Board also commenced with issuing of permits for the transport of scholars, staff and lift clubs. These types of applications are new to the Board and have been introduced as a result of the NLTTA. They are also responsible for the issuing of tourist applications and temporary permits to operators during special events such as the Cricket World Cup.