Mobility

1. The National Land Transport Amendment Act (Act no.23 of 2023)(“the Amendment Act”) together with the Second National Land Transport Regulations (2025) were brought into operation on 12 September 2025.  Whereas an e-hailing service was previously regarded as a sub-category of a metered-taxi service, the Amendment Act now provides for e-hailing services as a separate passenger category with its own requirements.  Section 66A has been introduced that governs the regulation of e-hailing services.  Chapter 2 of the Second National Land Transport Regulation provides the procedures/regulations to give effect to the empowering provisions in the Amendment Act.  The regulation of e-hailing services is a responsibility of all spheres of government.

E-hailing platform providers as well as the e-hailing application must now be registered with the National Public Transport Regulator (“NPTR”).  The Act and Regulations require a platform provider to be a natural or juristic person with valid South African citizenship or permanent residence or to be incorporated in terms of South African laws.  The platform provider must also have physical premises in the Republic to enable operators to engage with it as well as an online presence.  If both the platform provider and the application is compliant, the NPTR must issue a registration certificate to the platform provider.  The registration certificate must be renewed every seven years.

Municipalities are required to establish the demand for e-hailing services as part of the review and update of the Integrated Transport Plan for the area. The Western Cape Mobility Department, through the Provincial Regulatory Entity must give effect to the e-hailing regulations in respect of the following:

• Confirming with the NPTR that the platform provider has been registered and that the application is compliant and type-approved;
• Validating the agreement between the platform provider and the operator;
• Ensuring that the minimum safety requirements for e-hailing services are met viz that the applicant submits a Criminal Record Report issued by the South African Police Services and the driver has signed a declaration stating that there are no pending criminal investigations against him or her in South Africa or any another country that could result in conviction (where such an offence will have a bearing on the provision of the service);
• Ensuring that the driver holds a driving licence and Professional Driving Permit;
• Ensuring that the motor vehicle is fitted with a panic button;
• Ensuring that the vehicle is marked with the information contemplated in the regulations;
• The issuance of operating licences where all requirements have been met;
• The conversion of operating licences issued for e-hailing services as a sub-category of a metered taxi service prior to 12 September 2025 to e-hailing specific licences in terms of Section 66A of the Amendment Act;
• The suspension or cancellation of operating licences where the platform provider has suspended or cancelled access to the platform.

2(a)     The Department has ad-hoc engagements with the e-hailing Association and platform providers.  Engagements with the representative structure took place before and after the promulgation of the Amendment Act and the Second National Land Transport Regulations. We also invited the National Department of Transport to attend a session with the e-hailing operators to present the new e-hailing legal provisions and to address concerns raised by the industry.  Below is a list of meetings facilitated by the Department.

            Please also note that the Department (after engagements with the e-hailing industry) submitted extensive inputs/comments to the National Department of Transport on the proposed regulations and the Amendment Act. Subsequent to the promulgation of the Act and the Regulations, we have also written to the NPTR and the National Department of Transport regarding the practical implementation of certain regulations.

2(b)     While the industry welcomes some of the provisions enshrined in the Amendment Act and the Second National Land Transport Regulations, they also raised some valid concerns about the practicality of certain provisions.  The Department provided logistical support to the industry to share these concerns with their counterparts in other provinces in order to submit consolidated inputs to the National Department of Transport.  We also invited the National Department of Transport to workshop the regulations with the industry.  Specific concerns were raised about the panic buttons that must be installed in vehicles, vehicle markings (given ongoing intimidation), the period allowed for the conversion of previously issued operating licences, hotspot areas, unilateral fare adjustments by platform providers, the suspension and cancellation of access to platforms without following due process, etc. 

3.         The demand for public transport services (including e-hailing services) is never in a state of equilibrium.  As the population of the Western Cape grows so does the demand for public transport services.  This is due to the symbiotic/interdependent relationship between transport and land-use planning. It would therefore not be prudent to state that the Western Cape has reached its capacity in terms of the issuance of e-hailing operating licences.  Whereas the demand for e-hailing services was initially only concentrated in the City of Cape Town area, other municipalities have now confirmed an increase in e-hailing operations. 

It should however be noted that transport planning is an exclusive local government responsibility/function as listed in part B or Schedule 4 and 5 of the Constitution. In terms of section 36 of the NLTA, each planning authority must produce an Integrated Transport Plan (“ITP”) for its area.  The ITP sets out the policies of the municipality in respect of public transport services.  As part of the production of the ITP, the municipality must design the routes to be operated by non-contracted services (including e-hailing services) and indicate the demand for such services.  The City of Cape Town has developed an e-hailing demand model to calculate the number of vehicles required to accommodate passenger demand.  As part of this process, information from e-hailing companies has been incorporated into the model.  The model also adds additional capacity given that vehicles may be non-operational at times. 

Based on the demand model, the City of Cape Town has supported some 4400 applications for new e-hailing/metered taxi operating licences.  The last of these operating licences were issued in the latter part of 2025.  The demand for public transport services (including e-hailing services) continues to grow as a result of new residential and commercial developments as well as latent demand being stimulated.  The City of Cape has remained agile in its planning and the demand model is updated at regular intervals to gauge the balance between the demand and supply of e-hailing services.  Regulation 27 of the Second National Land Transport Regulations further allows a planning authority to issue a notice to an e-hailing platform provider requesting information for transport planning purposes.  The demand model has also been workshopped with other municipalities in the Western Cape.

4(a)     Since the promulgation of the National Land Transport Amendment Act (Act no.23 of 2023) and the Second National Land Transport Regulations, no new e-hailing specific operating licences have been issued.  The existing e-hailing operating licences were issued as a sub-category of a metered taxi service and must still be converted to e-hailing specific operating licences.  It is therefore premature at this stage to gauge the effectiveness of the new regulations

Having said this, we are confident that the Amendment Act and Regulations will create a safer and more dignified environment for users.  Operators/drivers must now be criminally vetted, a panic button has to be installed in the vehicle, the vehicle must be properly marked and must display the details of the operator, e-receipt must show operating licence, vehicle and driver details, platform providers may not allow illegal operators to access the platform, riders must be screened, etc. Some platform providers have enhanced the application to show high-risk areas for riders and drivers. 

4(b)(i)&(ii) We have to point out that no punitive enforcement action has been taken against operators who have not yet converted operating licences that were issued prior to the Amendment Act and Regulations coming into operation.  Similarly, no punitive action has been taken against operators providing e-hailing services using a platform provider that is not registered with the NPTR (refer to the Annexure A and B).

            Regulation 14(5) stipulates that where an application for conversion has not been submitted as required, the relevant regulatory entity must cancel the operating licence.  As from a date calculated as 180 days after the date of coming into operation of the regulations, no operator may operate e-hailing services using an operating licence that was issued before the date of coming into operation of the regulations, unless the operator is waiting for the decision of the PRE on the conversion application.

This conversion process is contingent on the registration of e-hailing platform providers by the National Public Transport Regulator (“NPTR”). It should be noted that the 6-month period for this conversion process ended on 11 March 2026. Platform providers have been slow to apply for registration, and many companies did not comply with all the requirements.  Of the major platform providers, only BOLT SA was registered before the end of the 6-month period on 27 February 2026.  We have been informed that In-drive was registered during the second week of May 2026 but have not yet received official confirmation.  Uber is still to be registered. 

Operating licences can only be converted once the platform providers have been registered.  The Department has written to the NPTR and the National Department of Transport to alert them to this situation with a request to provide a further period of 12 months to complete the conversion process.  Operators cannot be prejudiced given that these circumstances are beyond their control.  We are in regular discussions with our national counterparts to address this situation.

As from a date calculated as 180 days after coming into operation of the regulations, no person may provide an e-hailing service using a platform provider that is not registered with the NPTR.  As mentioned, platform providers have been slow to apply for registration.  Many platform providers also did not satisfy all the legal requirements.  In particular, platform providers had difficulty obtaining the ICASA certificate.  It would be unfair to hold operators responsible for the lack of compliance by platform providers. 

4(c)     Our records show that e-hailing vehicles are mainly impounded for operating without a valid operating licence or operating contrary to the terms and conditions of the operating licence.  It should be noted that it is now an offence for a platform provider to allow any person to access its platform using a vehicle for which an operating licence has not been issued.

4(d)     We have conducted regulator workshops with the e-hailing industry and other road-based public transport modes on the new legal requirements and changes to the business processes of the Western Cape PRE.  We are currently conducting training on the online application platform.