The country’s taxi associations never pass the reduction in the price of liquefied fuel that are announced on to the consumer, under the pretext of bearing high operating costs.
But a local company, GNV, a compressed natural gas (CNG) company, has broached a proposal to taxi owners countrywide to save costs by converting from petrol to compressed natural gas.
According to Gerald Ganesh, an official from GNV, by shifting to compressed natural gas, collectively, the taxi industry can achieve two things – reduce its carbon emissions and transport costs for the 14 million South Africans it serves.
Ganesh acknowledges that the biggest snag the initiative is likely to face is stiff resistance from taxi association who are known to resist changes that could benefit them. “We are dealing with the taxi industry and its difficult to pin them down or get them motivated to fill CNG,” he says.
The Department of Transport’s programme to encourage owners of rickety taxis to purchase new vehicles under the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme faltered as the taxi association heads dismissed it as a very costly exercise.
GNV is said to have converted 700 vehicles since launching its operations in collaboration with International Development Corporation.
