Taxis urged to switch and save
JOBURG -– Natural gas fuel, touted as a fuel for the future, is slowly but surely on the rise.
As the fuel price hike hits rooftop, compressed natural gas fuel trading company Natural Gas Vehicles (Pty) Ltd, has called on taxis and industrial heavy-duty vehicles to switch and save to natural gas fuel as an alternative to fossil fuels.
The call was made by Natural Gas Vehicles (Pty) Ltd (NGV Gas) group sales and marketing manager Wayne Williams during an interview in the sidelines of a Johannesburg function to honour and reward those taxi associations that have switched to natural gas to run their vehicles.
NGV Gas is a subsidiary of the eight-year-old Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Holdings (Pty) Ltd, which also owns CNG Technology (Pty) Ltd that supplies compressed natural gas equipment while Virtual Gas Network (Pty) Ltd is the transporting organ of the gas.
Williams said more than 1 200 taxis in Gauteng had converted to the new fuel, along with 150 Metrobus buses, 45 Tshwane Rapid Transit buses in Pretoria and more than 250 City of Johannesburg vehicles from its various entities such as City Power, the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department, Johannesburg Roads Agency and Johannesburg Water.
He said huge savings were being enjoyed by converted taxis as calculated from a comparative pump amount savings of R5.25 per litre in relation to the current price of petrol and diesel, adding that simple mathematics will show how much savings you score each time you fill up your tank.
“I strongly urge other taxis as well to consider switching to save huge amounts at the pumps, money that can be used to pay off your current instalment on your taxi or help you purchase another to add to your fleet of taxis,” Williams said.
Besides the low prices of the gas fuel, Williams said the fuel of the future, as it is being marketed, is one of the safest and environmentally-friendly green fuel which has no carbon emissions and poses no threat even if the vehicle is involved in a serious accident as it safely fizzles into thin air.
It’s unlike fossil fuels which have the propensity to ignite in an accident scene or when exposed to open flames while at the same time prolonging the life-span of your car’s engine as it does not contain any harmful particles and residual sludge common with fossil fuels.
There are currently four gas stations in Gauteng – one in Langlaagte, Dobsonville, Vanderbijlpark and Pretoria – with a rollout in the coming year in KwaZulu-Natal. Williams said the gas was sourced in Mozambique on the Rand exchange, hence the low prices which have been static for the past four years.
Alexandra’s African Theatre and Dance Company mesmerised the audience with their Zulu and Setswana traditional dances, along with a pantsula dance act performed by African Black Diamond Theatre Productions, also from Alex.
