Randburg United Local and Long Distance Taxi Association plan to change the perception people have of taxi drivers and the industry, by implementing formal wear.
Phindile Shabangu, who is part of association’s training department said this initiative had been incorporated into the life of taxi drivers for the past three weeks.
“Every Monday and Friday they are asked to wear a formal shirt and tie,” said Shabangu. She explained that in recent years, taxi drivers have been given a bad reputation and this initiative is in line to change this perception.
Through this change and the more to follow, they want to try and make the taxi business a good one. “We want everyone who gets into a taxi to feel safe and free as we need our commuters along with our community to feel safe,” said Shabangu.
Shabangu did stress that this programme is in its beginning stages and like most great ideas, will go through some trial and error. Along with the many positive reinforcements, this new dress code is also a way of training taxi drivers to look like business people.
“They deal with money every day and it should look like it. People should see that a taxi driver is a businessman,” said Shabangu.
Through this, they hope that drivers get a sense that they too are entrepreneurs and that their success doesn’t only end with them being taxi drivers. The hope behind this change is to have them feel better about themselves and the job they do.
Training officer for the association, Philemon Mulaudzi said they also have workshops for taxi drivers where it is further instilled in them to follow the rules of the road.
“They also learn about customer care and it is heavily stressed that they do not have any form of dangerous weapon on them.”
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