PioTrans is new Bus Company
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02 February 2011
THE taxi operators have officially taken over the company that runs Rea Vaya, naming it PioTrans. The contract will run for 12 years.
Sicelo Mabaso is the chairman of PioTrans
PIOTRANS is the new name of the Rea Vaya Bus Operating Company (BOC), it was announced at a press conference on 1 February. The declaration followed three years of planning, negotiation and implementation between the City of Johannesburg and nine taxi associations, which are owned by over 300 taxi operators.
The taxi operators’ investment companies have now officially taken charge of the BOC and will be beginning their 12-year contract. The company was previously known as Clidet.
PioTrans used the briefing as an opportunity to introduce its board of directors and management team. Victor Cordoba from Fanalca South Africa, the local arm of a Colombian company specialising in Bus Rapid Transit systems (BRTs), was named the chief executive officer.
The board of directors is made up of Baracity’s Dumisani Mntambo as the deputy chief executive, the Greater Johannesburg Regional Taxi Council’s Eric Motshwane as the director for corporate affairs, Top Six Taxi Management’s Sicelo Mabaso as the chairperson and Grace Molefe, who was responsible for planning and implementing policies at Clidet, as the deputy chairperson.
In addition, 13 taxi operators representing their taxi investment companies were named as non-executive directors.
“There is a lot of emotion in this moment, as it has not been an easy road, and people have paid with their very lives on this project,” said the Johannesburg mayoral committee member for transport, Rehana Moosajee, speaking at the press briefing.
“There has been victimisation and intimidation, where taxi operators had their lives threatened and bus operations stopped, but despite all this, they moved forward.
“I hope that the values of humility, service and your pioneering spirit will continue longer than the 12 years of your contract … I have found the most humbling, challenging and exciting part of the project learning at the feet of the taxi operators,” she added.
Moosajee warned the new BOC that even though this was the beginning of a new chapter, the City had high expectations for it and that a lot rested on the shoulders of the new board. “With the skills and expertise from Fanalca South Africa and the whole family, you dare not fail, because if you do, people will say that economic transformation and the transformation of the public transport sector is not possible.”
FANALCA
Fanalca’s involvement in the project brought with it its own set of challenges, as those heading the project have been accused of “selling the crown jewels” to a foreign company. Fanalca is based in Cali, in Colombia and has been running since 1958. It specialises in systems such as Transmilenio in Bogota, also in Colombia; Transantiago in Chile; and Metrobus in Panama.
PioTrans chairperson Mabaso responded to these claims by saying: “What people need to understand is that this is a totally new project, and we need to deliver a professional service. We looked locally and found no one, so we had to look at successful BRT systems.”
The team found itself in South America, and in Colombia particularly, where Fanalca was the most suitable candidate for the job at hand. “We are looking for sustainability and we felt the best way of ensuring success was by providing them with an interest and stake in the company,” he said.
In addition, a range of conditions was attached to the company’s participation in the venture, and Fanalca would have to prove it was improving the whole endeavour.
Despite the challenges that both Moosajee and Mabaso referred to, they stressed the milestones that the Rea Vaya project had been able to celebrate, with this most recent one as the cherry on the cake.
“The taxi companies are realising the fruits of their vision,” Moosajee said.
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