The Gauteng Provincial Government has called on e-hailing companies operating in the province to require their drivers to register on the Integrated Public Transport Administration System (GIPTAS).

GIPTAS is the province’s repository of information required in the management and monitoring of public transport operations, routes and conflicts by the Public Transport Inspectorate.

It is also used by the government to regulate the issuance of public transport licences, and is now being used by Gauteng to begin regulating the province’s e-hailing drivers.

This is part of the country-wide regulation of the e-hailing industry by the Department of Transport through the amended National Land Transport Amendment Act (NLTAA).

The updated act seeks to formally recognise e-hailing as a category within South Africa’s public transport, and enforce compliance with the country’s laws and operational conditions.

Among other requirements, the recently rolled-out regulations call for e-hailing operators and drivers to be licensed, for vehicles to be branded, and the compulsory installation of in-vehicle panic buttons.

Ashif Black, country representative for the e-hailing firm InDrive in South Africa, told MyBroadband that the Gauteng provincial government has begun approaching e-hailing operators in the past month.

The province has held several meetings with major e-hailing companies, such as InDrive, in the last few weeks, seeking to ensure compliance with province-specific regulations.

Black said that as the phase to register e-hailing operators and license them ends, the process of registering the hundreds of thousands of e-hailing drivers in South Africa now begins.

“We’ve had hostings of different government agencies just to understand the new digital system that will be used to process driver’s licenses,” said Black.

“Just a bit of data sharing and how we will be participating in the digitisation and registration for our drivers on our platform.”

He said that part of this process was requests from the Gauteng MEC of Public Transport, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, and other agencies to begin registering on GIPTAS.

The next phase in South Africa’s e-hailing regulation changes

Black said that the government sought to strengthen its database of e-hailing drivers in the province, who will have to register on GIPTAS using their personal information.

The registration of drivers will also form part of their official licensing in the country and will comply with province-specific bylaws.

He said that drivers would have to register with their “key licensing documents.” This included their Professional Driving Permit (PrDP), their vehicle registration, and their ID numbers.

Foreign e-hailing drivers who do not have local ID numbers can register using their Traffic Register Number (TRN), providing the province with information on how many drivers are foreign nationals.

A TRN is a system-generated profile in the country’s national road traffic registry (eNaTIS) for drivers who do not have a standard 13-digit South African ID number.

It allows foreign nationals to complete road transactions, such as taking a driving test, applying for a PrDP, converting their existing driver’s licence or registering a vehicle under their name.

Black said that while the provincial government had begun registration of drivers in GIPTAS, the process was still in its early stages. No deadline had yet been set for the registration.

“We are just trying to enter this new system and make sure that we are learning as much as we can,” he said.

“We have to adapt to these changes. So it’s ongoing engagements, and it’s ongoing developments.”

He said that while the government would want to have a deadline, the country’s e-hailing sector was experiencing significant delays and backlogs in complying with wider regulations.

InDrive has since requested more concrete information from the Gauteng Department of Transport for the registration on GIPTAS. Black said that the process has been a back-and-forth.

“Our public policy department has engaged after the meetings regarding all the key actions that they requested from us,” he said.

“Some of the requirements will need a bit of product tweaking, while other aspects still require more clarity from the government.”
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Article originally published on the MyBroadband website.