The minibuses, called ‘taxis’ deserve an entry of their own. This entry might seem a bit chaotic because, well, it is a bit chaotic. But after you get used to the system, it actually flows nicely.
- If you want to hop on a taxi that is passing by, just raise your hand. They pick you up from anywhere, there is no strict ‘bus stops’. Quite often they will also hoot to get your attention and it means the same as asking: ‘do you need a ride?’ Before getting into a taxi, if you are unsure where it is headed to, you should always ask. Different destination taxis sometimes operate on same roads for a short while, so this is essential!
- The stressing part with taxis is to learn where they are going, especially if you don’t know the city very well. If you have a specific destination in mind, first ask around for the taxi that will take you to the specific suburb, then ask the driver if his route goes past landmarks close to your destination. Landmarks such as hospitals, schools, malls, garages etc. are commonly used. Sometimes the driver will prefer you communicate with the conductor and he’ll deliver the information to the driver.
- Sometimes the taxi will get behind a parked line of taxis and usher everyone out. Wish to still continue your journey? Just walk to the first car in the line. Whenever this happens to me, I have never been asked to pay until I’m in the car that takes me to my final destination. Dunno how the first one gets income. I guess they have a deal.
- There is no schedules, but I never had to wait too long. The taxis will stop running after dark.
- If you get on board on a taxi station, usually they won’t start driving until the taxi is full, so be prepared to wait.
- Police will sometimes stop taxis, because they have a bad reputation of driving recklessly, drunk, without a license and with unfit vehicles. I haven’t had too bad experiences though, this is just something I heard.
- The taxis don’t always use the same routes, but they will use more or less the same routes. There are stop names on their routes, but you will only learn about them from talking to people. If you don’t know you stop name but you want to get off you can always shout something like stop here although it is a bit rude not to be able to warn the driver beforehand.
- They will drop people off in the middle of traffic lights, traffic jams etc. They will speed, and there are no safety belts.
- Sometimes the drivers like to listen to music. Quite often they also like to listen to it very loud. By loud I mean your ass will jump by the power of the bass 
- On peak hours some taxis charge 1-2 rands more.
- Payment is a sophisticated culture in taxis. The amount can vary, just ask people. When you see people getting money from their pouches, prepare to pay yourself. Sometimes the conductor will prefer to wait with the payments until the taxi is full / it is on a highway, so that he can concentrate on counting the money and not in getting more customers. But there is no rule here, sometimes you just have to pay right away when the taxi moves. Carry small cash like 5 rands and 2 rands to avoid trouble, I know people who have been ’charged’ as much as 50 rands for a drive because they paid with a 100r bill.
- When paying, you pass your money forward to the person sitting in front of you, they will pass the money forward. Keep in mind what you are supposed to get back because the conductor can get confused.
- If you are not sitting in the last row, it is very possible you will be asked to pass money to the front. Then they will give you a handful of money and say how many people are paying with it, for example, you get 25 rand and a person says ‘four’. Then you just pass on the money and the ‘four’. If you are adding your own payment to it, you then of course say ‘five’, and add your money to the pile. If you pay a 9 rand trip with a 10 rand bill in this situation, you are allowed to take your change from the pile before it reaches the conductor. It’ll be easier for him to count and manage bills after all.
- Sometimes the taxi is full and there is no conductor at all. In this case the first row will have to count all the money and see if it is enough and pass change back to ppl. I had to do this once now and it was confusing as hell
History & culture
- I’ve talked to people, and learned that the taxis have their specific routes and territories, like gangs do. They are operated by ‘mafia’. If a wrong taxi driver goes to drive some route that is not in his territory, there will be trouble. I’ve spoken to a person who was in such a situation and there was a gunfight because of it. Apparently (please correct me if you know better) all of this is because during the apartheid, black people weren’t allowed to be entrepreneurs, but people still needed to move around. So these taxi cartels formed. Now, it is impossible for the government to try and make taxi business legal, taxed, and try to control their routes (towards more convenient perhaps…?) because of the invisible territories that have formed, and also because people couldn’t afford the raised fares.
- My workmate travels to work from a part of town that is relatively close to work. With a car it would take her 10 minutes to go to work. But there is a taxi territory border cutting her way to work. This means she will have to change transport modes and go around the territory, resulting in almost 1 hour travel!
- There are some government controlled bus lines, but they are not popular. I usually see only 1 or 3 people sitting in them. People are so used to taking the taxis and to the taxi culture that they are afraid of using government buses, of which the schedules are unknown, and the stops are not close to you, whereas when traveling with a minibus taxi they sometimes go right past your front door.
- Sometimes the taxi will stop at a guy with a white paper which is some sort of list. They hang out at certain places. They write something to the list. I have no idea what this procedure means! It also occurs seemingly random. Have to ask people about that!
- I would really love to attach pictures from / of the taxis, but haven’t felt safe to carry my camera on them. Sorry for being such a wossy
. I ate outside in the garden and marvelled at the views to the city. The cat kept me company. 