Free taxi to vaccinate
SANDTON – There is a free taxi ride service to a vaccination site near you operating under the Eastern Taxi Liaison Committee.
In a bid to boost vaccination numbers for Covid-19, the Eastern Taxi Liaison Committee (ETLC) has struck a partnership with the national Department of Health to ferry commuters for free to various vaccination sites.
According to Eric Motshwane of FOT Consulting CC, the company that brokered the partnership deal, the free transportation to the vaccination sites and back is only applicable to senior citizens aged 50 years and above.
“We started this pilot project on August 24 and will run until September 6 with the option to extend, depending on its success and it involves various taxi associations that fall under ETLC which is central to the project,” Motshwane said in an interview with Alex News at their ETLC office at the Gautrain Station next to Sandton City.
For the purpose of record keeping, Motshwane said vaccination site passengers are required to complete a departmental form in which they state their full names and ID number which they then handover to the taxi driver and gets dropped at the ETLC offices.
For those in Alexandra wishing to take advantage of the free transport, Motshwane said they can go to their nearest taxi rank and indicate they want to go and take the jab and they will be taken to the Sandton site and back to Alex.
Member associations of the ETLC that operate in various areas are also part of the project to freely ferry commuters to vaccination sites within their respective communities and operational areas.
