Merawit Hailemariam, taxi zoning controller from Kera to Wollo Sefer, writes notes in her ledger.
Taxi owners’ associations are to start fining taxi drivers and owners, for infractions committed on the new taxi zoning system, at terminals starting tomorrow, Monday, August 29, 2011, after securing the mandate from the Addis Abeba Transport Authority (AATA).
A total of 160 controllers who have been hired by the 13 Taxi Owners’ Associations in the city took a day long training on August 19, 2011, from AATA and received authorised penalty charge tickets. Although controllers from the association have been deployed along with the authority’s personnel since the new taxi zoning system was enforced four months ago, they have only been collecting data, according to Nuredin Ditamo, chairman of Blen Taxi Owners’ Association.
The associations drafted their internal regulations and got them ratified by the city transport authority last month. The infractions outlined in the internal regulations apply to owners, drivers, and assistants (weyalas).
Also included in the regulation is the requirement of employment contracts between owners and drivers as well as weyalas who have proper kebele identification, which should be copied to owners’ associations. If assistants do not have identification cards, they are required to bring a proper guarantor to sign their employment contract, according to the regulations.
“Guidelines and directives have been issued by the authority, but it should be up to the associations to decide how they will discipline their members,” Shiberu Kelbesa, manager of public organising and dispatching of the authority, told Fortune.
Although there are some differences in the fines outlined between some associations, the overall theme is similar.
“We have discussed what the contents of internal regulation documents should be before drafting and ratifying them, making variation in the rules minimal,” said Dereje Beyene, vice chairperson of Megenagna Zone’s Tsehai Association.
Tsehai Owners’ Association’s regulation makes infractions like hiring drivers without a contract, failing to display the route signboards in a visible manner, and driving on non assigned routes liable to get a taxi-owner fined 400 Br.
Forging route signboards and tariff rates and exchanging signboards with other drivers are costly trespasses, and can get a taxi owner charged 400 Br. Penalties for hired drivers can range from 80 Br to 200 Br.
A 40 Br fine will be levied if weyalas fail to give change back to passengers on time and charge above the set tariff rates. Insulting passengers will be penalised with an 80 Br fine.
Although the controllers are stationed at 127 terminals, where taxis on the 256 routes within the city depart and arrive, passengers can report the infractions they encounter on the routes to the controllers at their station.
Controllers have the mandate to take the licence and front plates of taxis which commit infractions and issue tickets. Owners have to pay the fine at the respective associations, according to Dereje.
However, the mandate of the controllers does not only stop there. They can also fine automobiles that commit infractions at terminals.
“We are mandated to fine automobile owners who commit infractions at terminals,” Meron Mengesha, a controller employed by Blen Association and stationed at Megenagna terminal, told Fortune. “But they pay their fine at the city authority instead of to associations.”
The decision to give associations this mandate was to extend the controlling and enforcing of the taxi zoning properly, according to Ketema Hailu, team leader of control and dispatch of the authority.
Source: addisfortune.com