Imagine using an app to pay for your taxi ride instead of hard cash – this is exactly the opportunity that Imtiyaaz Riley from Manenberg has created.
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With the Loop taxi service, commuters simply need to register on the app, which allows payments via bank card or phone. It is already operational in digitally enabled Loop taxis on the Mitchell’s Plain/Bellville route and is the first of its kind to have a majority of taxis on their route digitised.
Riley says four taxi associations are using the service during the pilot phase, and more than 3 000 users have registered.
‘We did design thinking for about eight months, we did design thinking in the Western Cape and Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal, [and] the results of the design thinking [were] almost 99% correct which basically proves to us that the problem exists not only at Empangeni and in Cape Town but throughout South Africa.’
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Melton Oppelt, chair of the Mitchell’s Plain Bellville Taxi Association, says the service is a major breakthrough for the industry, drivers and passengers.
‘We think it’s [a] good initiative that is brought to us by Loop we have decided as an association that we want to pilot here in the region of Mitchell’s Plain we have been running now for a couple of weeks and one thing now is that the drivers [are] also buying into this Loop initiative.’
SABC News reports that the taxi industry is the backbone of South Africa’s public transport system, and with this new system, owners and associations will be able to track their income accurately.
‘On a day-to-day basis like you all know we are transporting commuters and with this Loop experience for me it’s something new but something awesome,’ says Warren Lakay, a local taxi driver. ‘Most importantly it’s very safe for me as a driver and the commuters. Firstly we are eliminating the money out of the system, in other words, it gives me more time to concentrate on the road and not [concentrate] on collecting money at the back.’
Vinesh Ramnarain, the vice president of product and solutions for the service provider that handles the transactions between commuters and taxi operators, says the service forms part of their transforming urban mobility programme.
‘We are partnering with Loop basically to help digitise a lot of big cash that’s happening within the taxi industry as you know a lot of commuters use the taxis everyday travels.’
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Picture: Loop / Facebook