The majority of the blind communities who commute daily with public transport are a step closer to travelling safely with taxis thanks to a new milestone commitment from all key stakeholders.
The City of Johannesburg’s Department of Health and Social Development estimates that there are about 15 531 persons with disabilities citywide.
As part of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the MMC for Health and Social Development, councillor Mpho Phalatse, the South African National Taxi Council’s (Santaco) Garwin Doll and Blind SA’s Jace Nair signed the pledge on the 6 December at Marks Park.
More than 150 people with disabilities attended the event to witness the signing ceremony. All the parties agreed and committed unreservedly to improving the quality and experience of the blind and partially sighted commuters in Johannesburg.
Nair said his organisation, which represents at least 23 member organisations, has noted that for years the public transport had remained inaccessible for blind people.
“Our members frequently complain about being dropped off at the stop signs that are far away from their homes, with the taxi drivers often being impatient with them. It is because of these challenges, which further makes it more expensive for blind people to use public transport. They are left with having to pay an extra person to travel with them,” said Nair.
The Speaker of Council, councillor Vasco Da Gama, urged the stakeholders to keep the issues of people with disabilities high on the agenda throughout the year.
“In the recent past, we have engaged in a series of discussions on the state of the City with regard to, delivering services to persons with disabilities. These engagements culminated into the recent Inter-Regional Summit on Disabilities which was held in June at Cosmo City,” said Da Gama.
He also said the engagement he had with people within the disability sector, had highlighted some of the critical areas that the disability sector is most concerned about such as employment and business opportunities, universal access to facilities, housing issues and transport, just to mention a few.
