Yo! Taxi! cab crash kills three

A CRASH involving an e-hailing vehicle in Cato Manor in which three people died.

Durban - Three passengers were killed when a cab from a newly-launched e-hailing service crashed in Cato Manor yesterday morning.

According to reports, Yo! Taxi! was launched less than a month ago by minibus taxi owners to rival Uber, Taxify and other similar operators.

The service launched with new cars and was said to employ well-trained drivers.

Yo! Taxi! would not comment on the accident.

Videos and pictures of the accident circulating on social media show a man believed to be the cab driver and who appears to be drunk. The vehicle apparently left the road and came to rest on its roof. No other vehicles are thought to have been involved.

Andre de Bruin, chairperson of the Durban E-hailing Association, said the accident damaged the reputation of all e-hailing taxi companies.

“We’re aware of the accident that happened, where three people lost their lives due to an e-hailing taxi driver who was suspected to have been drunk. It’s so sad that people now put all e-hailing companies under one umbrella when they’re judging this incident,” he said.

Boy Zondi of the SA National Taxi Council Santaco said he could not comment as the e-hailing company had nothing to do with Santaco.

Soon after its launch, drivers from other e-hailing companies said they were threatened by drivers from Yo! Taxi! unless they joined their organisation. Yo! Taxi! operators allege that other operators are conducting their business illegally.

This has led to simmering tensions between the new kid on the block, YoTaxi, and the other established e-hailing operators, with fears being expressed that this could spark violence in the province’s transport sector. In a video that has since gone viral on social media, a YoTaxi owner is seen threatening Uber and Bolt drivers.

“Tell your owners to come and join, and put their cars under YoTaxi, so that they can be safe. This is our job and it belongs to the taxi industry,” said a taxi owner.