Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) is spending more than R10 million to assist the local taxi industry in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
The assistance comes in the form of more than 65 000 litres of sanitisers, 2 000 face masks, as well as COVID-19-related marketing initiatives.
With regards to sanitisers, TSAM confirms that a total of 2 000 x 25 litres, 3 000 x 5 litres, 20 000 x 100ml, as well as 2 000 hand-wash dispensers have been distributed to regional taxi structures across the country’s nine provinces.
Under lockdown Level 4 regulations, minibus taxis can now operate for 12 hours (5am–7pm) – up 4 hours from Level 5 regulations. Loading capacity for minibus taxis remains at 70% of licenced passengers, with social distancing and other mitigating measures remaining in place.
Some of the elements that were executed at the beginning of lockdown include COVID-19 educational billboards (please see attachment) at some taxi ranks as well as a commuter safety animation video that started flighting on 3 April.
TSAM has also created posters, flyers, vehicle decals and T-Shirts that are currently being distributed to taxi associations.
“While current lockdown regulations may offer a glimmer of hope into life as we once knew it, at Toyota we believe that we need to intensify our fight against COVID-19 as we now have more commuters using public transport – compared to lockdown Level 5 when we only had essential service personnel operating,” says Leon Theron , TSAM’s Senior VP of Sales and Marketing.
“We trust that our support with the distribution of sanitisers to the taxi industry will go a long way in terms of mitigating the rate of Coronavirus infections in the local public transport system.”
