Oudtshoorn, 26 July 2022– The Executive Mayor of the Greater Oudtshoorn, Alderman Chris Macpherson, held meetings with the Provincial Minister of Mobility, Honourable Deylin Mitchell last week. The meeting focused on service delivery at the traffic department of the Greater Oudtshoorn, the operating progressing system of the taxi rank as well as the integrated transportation plan.
Certain requests for assistance were made to Minister Devlin by Mayor MacPherson as to where help is needed.
From a Traffic perspective, the following was mentioned:
- The assistance of two (2) Grade A Examiners for Driving Licenses and one (1) Grade L Examiner for two (2) months, calculated from 1 August 2022 until 30 September 2022, as the municipality will make these appointments by 1 October 2022.
- The municipality also needs a Vehicle Pound for the impoundment of Public Transport vehicles. Vacant land has been identified for a pound, but unfortunately, the traffic department cannot pound public transport vehicles due to the lack of a registered and promulgated public transport pound.
- The traffic department also has a huge problem with office and public spaces and cannot effectively serve the public. There is no shelter for the public when it comes to proper waiting rooms. The total upgrade of the Traffic Building seriously needs attention.
- The traffic department is currently making use of an SMS system under our Speed Camera tender. Handheld devices currently used by Provincial Traffic Officers in the Western Cape Province whereby fines are issued utilizing this electronic device would be of great help and it would save time and minimises human error when fines are issued. This is very effective and efficient a minimum of two (2) to a maximum of ten (10) handheld devices are required.
- A further request is to assist Oudtshoorn Municipality with a survey by Traffic Engineers for Average Speed Over Distance Cameras (ASOD) on the Provincial Roads surrounding Oudtshoorn municipal area.
- The municipality also requests assistance with a proper fleet management tracking system to effectively monitor the utilization of all municipal fleets and curb abuse of the fleet. If the system currently used by the provincial department can be made available and/or training can be provided by the provincial fleet management department to ensure that our municipal officials comply with benchmark practices such as fleet management policies and procedures.
Minister Mitchell promised to look at the requests and see how his department can be of assistance. The meeting then proceeded with a brief tour, which led to the Oudtshoorn taxi rank, where previously mentioned concerns were looked at and acknowledged, as well as the traffic department. Mayor MacPherson mentioned how the taxi association chairpersons put in the work in implementing order and structure, as well as improvements in the facilities of the taxi rank.