Design of new Taxis is just not up to scratch!
By James Clarke



My friend, Togetherness Tshabalala, the demon Diepkloof taxi driver who so passionately believes in private enterprise that he shoots competitors, told me that one of the problems with the new taxis is design standards.

For example, under the new rules, sliding doors are out and this is partly why there is a holdup.

Togetherness was responsible for this last-minute rule. He was asked by the Department of Transport's advisory committee to road test one of the prototype 23-seaters on the notorious Polokwane run.

The first thing he noticed was that with sliding doors one could squeeze in only 47 passengers. Even then, when he slid the door shut, it tended to snip off quite important parts which, despite the normal complacency of taxi commuters, led to complaints and certainly much smarting of the eyes.

But with hinged doors he could compress as many as 53 passengers in a vehicle (given a little help in shouldering the door closed).

Togetherness' road test report caused a stir among the manufacturers and resulted in the current delay in implementing the government's program to replace old taxis with new.

The roof of the test vehicle could support almost 2 tons of luggage, as well as chickens and building material, which surprised even the manufacturers. Despite the rather top heavy load the vehicle handled well and Togetherness said he experienced very few serious accidents except when nearing Polokwane where, he said, accidents become inevitable.

At one time the passengers at the back began muttering and Togetherness discovered the rear assembly had become incandescent because the handbrake had been left on. "This threatened to ignite the petrol tank but most of my passengers managed to alight," Togetherness reported. (Brighter readers will spot Togetherness' little pun.)

He managed to repair the bus at the roadside with pieces of corrugated iron and a hammer and resume his journey with a slightly reduced passenger load.

The bus put up an impressive performance on the Soweto route but only after he had neutralized the electronic speed governor by striking it with a pipe wrench. Togetherness said the speed control device would not be well accepted especially as many drivers have taken the advanced driving course offered by the manufacturers at the Kyalami race track where drivers clocked up speeds that had Grand Prix drivers clutching their foreheads in disbelief.

Togetherness explained, "If we were to crawl down the Golden Highway at a governed 60 km/h it would not only invite parking tickets, it would be an open invitation to hubcap thieves."

On the subject of hubcaps Togetherness was not in favour of a suggestion that the new models dispense with them.

"Drivers are not going to like this for they won't have the means to attach traditional BMW hubcaps which everybody wants"

He was in favour of seat belts on all seats because this considerably reduced the number of passengers who were propelled to the front of the vehicle every time the brakes were applied.

He warned though that although these buses were safer than current taxis they were unsuitable for driving on pavements which one often has to do in rush hour - their size tended to dismay pedestrians.

He approved the power steering for it allowed him to jinx among the traffic lanes without rolling the vehicle which, he said, saved a lot of time. But he was critical of the sturdy side-panels which he said did not allow the sideways expansion of the bus when really full.