{"id":778609,"date":"2024-06-25T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=778609"},"modified":"2024-06-24T16:29:47","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T14:29:47","slug":"big-win-for-uber-bolt-and-other-e-hailers-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/778609\/big-win-for-uber-bolt-and-other-e-hailers-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Big win for Uber, Bolt and other e-hailers in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>South Africa&#8217;s e-hailing industry has been boosted by President Cyril Ramaphosa&#8217;s signing of two new laws in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The National Land Transport Amendment Bill was initially passed by parliament and sent to the President for assent in 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amid constitutional concerns, Ramaphosa sent the Bill back to the National Assembly for reconsideration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The revised Bill amends the National Land Transport Act, 2009, by inserting and amending specific definitions and providing for non-motorised and accessible transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The amendments bring the Principal Act up to date with new developments and provide for certain powers of provinces and municipalities to conclude contracts for public transport services,&#8221; said the Presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It further expands the powers of the Minister to make regulations and introduce safety measures.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The National Land Transport Amendment Act can be found below (mobile users click <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/NationalLandTransportAmendmentAct-final.pdf\">here<\/a>): <\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/NationalLandTransportAmendmentAct-final.pdf\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ashif Black, Business Development Specialist for Africa at inDrive, said that the move is a massive win for the industry, as it brings long-awaited clarity and formal recognition to e-hailing services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>inDrive (F.K.A. inDriver) has been operating in South Africa since 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This new law not only clarifies how our business operates but also reinforces our commitment to safety and reliability for our users. We are committed to working hand-in-hand with authorities to ensure a smooth transition,&#8221; said Black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Boll will also require e-hailing drivers to apply for national operating licences for their services like minibus taxis. In the past, drivers needed to apply for charter permits and meter-taxi operating licences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/companies\/bolt-uber-praise-new-e-hailing-law-but-drivers-remain-sceptical-about-taxi-relations-20240620\">News24<\/a>, Bolt&#8217;s acting head of regulatory and policy in Africa, Weyinmi Aghadiuno, said the law was a major development to deal with the problems facing the e-hailing industry.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uber also said that the law&#8217;s signing was a step in the right direction, especially in recognising that e-hailing is different from other forms of transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, the legislation signed by the President goes beyond e-hailing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The President also signed the Economic Regulation of Transport Bill, which will create a Transport Economic Regulator that will regulate prices in the transport sector, investigate complaints, and monitor and enforce compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The Bill further seeks to establish a single regulatory body to focus on the economic regulation of the transport industry,&#8221; said the Presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Economic Regulation of Transport Bill can be found below (mobile users can click <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/The-Economic-Regulation-of-Transport-Bill.pdf\">here<\/a>): <\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/The-Economic-Regulation-of-Transport-Bill.pdf\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Question marks <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That said, questions remain, particularly over how the new regulations will affect pricing for riders and whether they will have a positive impact on drivers&#8217; earnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The industry is awaiting detailed guidelines to understand the full scope of the changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are ready to collaborate with national, provincial, and local authorities to facilitate compliance and support the rollout,\u201d said Black. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/778281\/most-expensive-traffic-fines-in-south-africa-with-penalties-of-r1000-or-more\/\">Most expensive traffic fines in South Africa \u2013 with penalties of R1,000 or more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/778303\/new-mercedes-launches-in-south-africa\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed two transport-related laws, which are good news for the e-hailing industry, even if questions remain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":704575,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11119],"tags":[13866,26,14020,6457],"class_list":["post-778609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-bolt","tag-headline","tag-indriver","tag-uber"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778609"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":778650,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778609\/revisions\/778650"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}