Dial-a-Ride services suspended in Nyanga amid taxi violence

Dial-a-Ride services have been suspended in Nyanga due to the ongoing taxi violence and services will resume once it is safe.

Sep 2, 2022 - 17:15
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Dial-a-Ride services suspended in Nyanga amid taxi violence

The City of Cape Town suspended Dial-a-Ride transporting to Nyanga following taxi violence in the area.

What is Dial-a-Ride?

Dial-a-ride is described as an essential service for those with special needs who are unable to access conventional forms of transportation. Cape Town etc reports that a Dial-a-Ride vehicle was stoned with a vulnerable passenger on board.

This prompted the suspension of the service in Nyanga until further notice. According to the City of Cape Town, one of the vehicles was vandalised on Wednesday.

“The back windscreen of the vehicle was stoned while one vulnerable passenger was already on board,”

the City revealed in a statement.

The stoning incident followed taxi violence in Nyanga the previous week, The area was chaotic as a number of Golden Arrow buses and cars were also stoned and even torched.

Cape Town is afraid for the lives of vulnerable people

The City is fearful that more vulnerable people’s lives could be at risk if the Dial-a-Ride service continues in the area with the ongoing violence. Councillor Rob Quintas, the Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Mobility, said the City cannot risk the lives of passengers and staff.

Quintas added that operations will only resume once it is safe to do so. He further condemned the acts of violence before rejecting social media claims that there is ongoing racial profiling towards the taxi industry.

Dial-a-Ride has been suspended in Nyanga until it is safe to resume operations. Photo: myciti.org.za

WATCH: Golden Arrow buses set alight in Nyanga

Previously, it was reported that the Traffic Service in the City of Cape Town has confirmed that five vehicles; four Golden Arrow buses and one City truck were set alight in the Nyanga area on Thursday morning. 

All Services are reportedly on scene, and the City’s Fire and Rescue Service has extinguished all the burning vehicles. Kevin Jacobs from Cape Town Traffic Services said there are reports that some passengers were injured in one of the attacks, but SAPS or EMS are yet to confirm that. 

Jacobs said that currently there are no roads that are closed, but the City advises motorists to be cautious when travelling through the area. Meanwhile, the Western Cape police said that Public Order Police, supported by Nyanga SAPS and Metro Police are currently monitoring the area where several buses and vehicles were set alight by yet-to-be-identified suspects. Read the full story here.