South Africa 2008 - Emergency Taxis (Combis)
Taxis in South Africa are not safe. I'm not talking about metered cabs, I'm talking about what we called "ETs" or Emergency Taxis in Zimbabwe. Basically Minibuses on a fixed route, stuff with people. Almost always Black People.
For many (most?) this is the only way to get around. You've either got a car, walk, or take a Taxi. There are nearly 130,000 taxis in RSA. They have no seat belts, or the belts are not used. They often run with the doors open. Once in Zimbabwe I was asked to hold the passenger side door to look shut as it had fallen off the hinges.
They'll pack you in like you've never been packed into a vehicle. You'll sit on laps and hang off the side. You'll hold on for dear life and listen to fights and honks. Sometimes a cab will encroach on another's turf and you're in the middle of it.
You stand by the side of the road in known, but unlabeled spots, and you make a hand signal. Point a finger up to say you want to go to town. A finger pointed down if you want a local taxi for somewhere near. There's many hand signs that you just pick up as lore. For example, there's a route down the street that will take me to the Clearwater Mall for 6 Rand (about 60 US cents) per person. I hold one finger down, and say "NgiyaeClearwater" to make sure they are going that way, and I'm off. I could just say "Clearwater" or speak English, but I feel that if I speak Zulu, or whatever the local language is, depending on where you are catching the taxi, that I'll be less likely to be messed with or talked about. This might just be me, but I've found that if you have a great accent with even a few words, folks assume you're totally fluent until proven otherwise. I'm not...I have the Zulu-speaking abilities of a kindergartener, but I can click effectively.
So far, in eight years, I've seen two other white folks in taxis. It's apparently just not done. I've also been harassed (in Zulu) by a drunk man who said "they take our land and now they are riding in our taxis."
All this said, I wouldn't recommend taxis in South Africa if you have another option.
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It's unfortunate how many people seem to to think working on their accent is optional. A little bit of work on vowel subtleties and being willing to go through the undignified contortions necessary for "unnatural consonants" has such a big payoff.
As Anonymous said, there are the formal taxi services: two are Roses & SafeCabs. Both offer clean cars & safe drivers. But you won't get them for R6,00.
And just when you thought things couldn't get worse: a large percentage of the minibus taxi drivers don't hold legal driver's licenses <sigh>
If you are taking a minibus then look for the 'larger' minibus taxis. These are taxis - built to government specification - designed to replace the smaller 'standard' minibus, the idea being that they will only be available to fully legal entities.
Go well
-- rowan
As Anonymous said, there are the formal taxi services: two are Roses & SafeCabs. Both offer clean cars & safe drivers. But you won't get them for R6,00.
And just when you thought things couldn't get worse: a large percentage of the minibus taxi drivers don't hold legal driver's licenses <sigh>
If you are taking a minibus then look for the 'larger' minibus taxis. These are taxis - built to government specification - designed to replace the smaller 'standard' minibus, the idea being that they will only be available to fully legal entities.
Go well
-- rowan
Taxi drivers don't get paid a salary, instead, the taxi owner simply stipulates that at the end of each day he expects X amount of money and the driver can keep the rest for himself. So for the drivers it's literally a case of "time is money". Plus the fact that passengers now usually refuse to be packed in like sardines as it's against the law, only adds to the pressure on the driver to get as many trips in as possible.
I've had plenty of close calls in taxis over the years so I too wouldn't recommend them for anyone unfamiliar with them (it can be traumatic) but I do miss the camaraderie of the passengers, the lively discussions and laughter, the music (once a guy with a cowboy hat and guitar-yes, in South Africa- got on the taxi and serenaded us all the way to town and we demanded that he not be charged).
Good times :)
In particular I believe that Cape Town is less prone to the 'burbclave' phenomenon, people do seem to walk more, and I personally have used many a 'ET' (although I have never heard them called that before).
There's an unclosed HTML tag on Hexagon Global's comment... it's making all the comment after it Italic... Please fix if u can; It makes it difficult to read.
On a 3 month trip to SA, I used 'regular' taxis in Jozie, and found them more scary than the bakkies - which is what they call the taxi-buses in the bundu, and they seem to call them Mozzies in Durban.
In Jozie, the taxis are prone to being pulled over to pay bribes to the police, and all the drivers I had with the exception of Rose's taxi seemed completely illiterate and didn't have a clue where they were going. If you couldn't tell them you were out of luck. Not to mention that one driver I had was also innumerate and didn't realise that if you were looking for a street number that they went in sequence.
In Durban there was more of an attitude. If I took a mozzie and didn't know where I was getting off, no one would tell me, and I ended up some really wild places, and getting swapped between taxis in mid-intersection at one point. THAT was a hoot!
The bakkies in the northern bundu through Manguzi usually had 14 or more passengers plus their 100lb bags of rice or corn-meal and other groceries, roaring down the highway at top speed, with the maskandi (Zulu version of C&W <G>) playing at top volume. I laughed through the whole trip. It was wonderful!!
In Cape Town I mostly walked or took the 'hop-on, hop-off' tourist bus.
I thought Jozie had a vibe and a buzz like NYC - you can smell in the air that it's a TCB city. Durban - well, I thought it was the most (racially) divided city, the worst mannered, least helpful. Cape Town is one of the world's most beautiful cities, I'm sure. I'd love to retire in that area - I've had enough of Canadian winters, thank you. Was in lots of small places too - great time - fascinating, exasperating, wonderful, beautiful - SA has it all.
Sala kahle
~granny m
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P.S
We have Taxis also, the way they operate in the U.S.