(As introduced in the National Assembly as a section 76 Bill; published in Government Gazette No. 20445 10 September 1999) (The English text is the official text of the Bill)
(MINISTER OF TRANSPORT)
To provide for the transformation and restructuring of the national land transport system of the Republic; and to provide for incidental matters.
BE IT ENACTED by the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, as follows:
INTRODUCTORY PROVISIONS
Part 1
Introductory Provisions
1. Definitions
2. Purpose and scope of Act
3. Application of Act in provinces
MATTERS OF NATIONAL CONCERN
Part 2
National Land Transport Principles and Policy
4. Principles for national land transport policy
Part 3
Powers and duties of Minister
5. Functions of Minister
6. National integrated land transport information system
7. Regulations by Minister
8. Delegations by Minister
Part 4
Functions of MECS
9. Functions of MECs
Part 5
Transport authorities
10. Principles for establishment of transport authorities for transport areas
11. Factors relevant to determining boundaries of transport areas
12. Transport areas and transport authorities extending across provincial boundaries
13. Finances of transport authorities
14. Use of funds received by transport authorities
Part 6
Interim funding arrangements for Land transport
15. Minister may provide funds for land transport
16. MEC may provide funds for land transport
17. Municipalities may provide funds for land transport
Part 7
Transport planning
18. General principles for transport planning, and its relationship with land
development
19. Types of plans required by Act
20. Planning authorities
21. National land transport strategic framework
22. Provincial land transport frameworks
23. Current public transport records
24. Permissions strategies
25. Rationalisation plans
26. Public transport plans
27. Integrated transport plans
28. Approval of commuter rail components of transport plans
29. Publication of transport plans and substantial changes in land use and public
transport infrastructure and services
Part 8
Provincial Permissions Boards
30. Establishment and functions of provincial permissions boards
Part 9
Permissions
31. Use of vehicle types for public transport services
32. Continuation and conversion of existing permits
33. Permission or permit prerequisite for operation of public transport services
34. Permission not a right
35. Maximum validity period of permissions
36. Permissions board to which application must be made
37. Notice of applications regarding permissions
38. Disqualifications with regard to holding of permissions
39. Permissions for public transport services provided for in transport plans
40. Permissions for contracted services
41. Withdrawal of permissions upon termination of contracts
42. Duties of holder of permission
43. Conveyance of learners, students, teachers and lecturers
44. Minimum information to be contained in permissions
45. Interaction between public transport and cross-border road transport
Part 10
Regulated competition
46. Subsidised service contracts
47. Qualification as tenderer for commercial service contract or subsidised service
contract
48. Involvement of municipalities and transport authorities in public transport services
49. Commercial service contracts
50. Withdrawal of permission or permit in rationalisation of public transport services or
where surpluses exist
Part 11
Registrations
51. National Transport Register
52. Appointment of provincial registrars
Part 12
Registrations and other matters relating to minibus taxi industry
53. Functions of Registrar
54. Registration of association or non-member in one province only
55. Provisional registration and full registration of associations and non-members
registered under provincial laws
56. Full registration of associations directly
57. Registration of members
58. Issuing of certificates and distinguishing marks upon registration or provisional
registration
59. Requirements for constitutions of associations
60. Minister to determine minimum requirements for codes of conduct
61. Benefits of registration
MATTERS OF PROVINCIAL CONCERN
Part 13
Functions of MEC
62. Functions of MEC
63. Regulations by MEC
Part 14
Transport authorities
64. Agreements for formation of transport areas and transport authorities
65. Declaration of transport areas, and concomitant establishment of transport authorities
66. Requirements for founding agreements
67. Functions and competencies of transport authorities
68. Ancillary powers of transport authorities
69. Governance of transport authorities
70. Dissolution of transport authorities
71. Finances of transport authorities
72. Delegations by governing body
73. Provisions applicable to delegations
74. Transport executives
75. Joint transport executives
Part 15
Provincial permissions Board
76. Appointment of members of permissions board
77. Duties of permissions board
Part 16
Permissions
78. Continuation and conversion of existing permits
79. Conversion of permit not allowed in certain circumstances
80. Manner of converting permits to permissions
81. Conversion of permits to permissions for larger vehicles
82. Disposing of applications with regard to permissions for non-contracted services
83. Cancellation of certain permissions not brought into use
84. Issue of permissions, and contents thereof
85. Authority conveyed by permission
86. Persons who may hold permissions
87. Rules applicable with regard to various permissions
88. Use of same vehicle for long distance and other public transport services
89. Amendment of permission: Replacement of specified vehicle
90. Special conditions relating to metered taxi and staff services
91. Courtesy services
92. Duties of holder of permission
93. Temporary replacement of specified vehicle
Part 17
Registrations and other matters relating to minibus taxi industry
94. Appointment of Transport Registrar
95. Disqualifications for holding Registrar's office
96. Resignation of Registrar, and removal from office
97. Vacation of office
98. Functions of Registrar
99. Registrar required to disclose commercial and pecuniary interests
100. Registrar to report annually
101. Establishment and functions of panel of assessors
102. Appointment, remuneration and conditions of service of assessors
103. Meetings of panel of assessors
104. Panel of assessors may co-opt in certain circumstances
105. Resignation and removal from and vacation of office by assessors
106. Disclosure of assessors' commercial and pecuniary interests
107. Provisional and full registration of associations and non-members previously
registered
108. Provisional registration of associations not qualifying directly for full
registration
109. Full registration of associations, directly
110. Application and registration procedure
111. Registration or provisional registration of members
112. Registration of non-members
113. Certificates of registration and distinguishing marks
114. Duties of registered and provisionally registered associations and non-members
115. Standard Minimum Constitution and Code of Conduct
116. Requirements for constitutions of associations
117. Non-compliance with registered Constitution, and breach of Code of Conduct
118. Cancellation or temporary suspension of registration or provisional registration of
associations, members and non-members
119. Effect of lapsing or cancellation of registration on holding of permit or permission
120. Registration or provisional registration no bar to prosecution for unauthorised
operation of public transport
Part 18
Law enforcement
121. Land transport law enforcement
122. Appointment of inspectors
123. Impoundment of vehicles
124. Presumptions and proof of certain facts
125. Powers of authorised officers
126. Offences and penalties
GENERAL MATTERS
Part 19
General matters
127. Appeals in general
128. Appeals to Transport Appeal Tribunal
129. Transitional provisions
130. Act binds State
131. Short title and commencement
INTRODUCTORY PROVISIONS
Part 1
Introductory provisions
Definitions
1. (1) In this Act, unless inconsistent with the context —
(i) "association" means any group of persons formed for the operation of minibus taxi-services, and—
(a) which has been formed not for gain;
(b) whose object is to promote the interests of its members; and
(c) whose funds are to be applied in promoting those interests;
(ii) "authorised officer" means—
(a) an inspector contemplated in section 122;
(b) a member of the South African Police Service, including a member of a municipal police service as defined in section 1 of the South African Police Service Act, 1995 (Act No. 68 of 1995);
(c) a person in the service of a provincial department or a municipality, whose duty is to inspect motor vehicles or licences for motor vehicles or to control traffic;
(d) a road transport inspector contemplated in section 39 of the Cross Border Road Transport Act, 1998 (Act No. 4 of 1998);
(iii) "bus" means a motor vehicle designed, or lawfully adapted by a registered manufacturer in compliance with the Road Traffic Act, 1989 (Act No. 29 of 1989), to carry more than 35 persons, excluding the driver, subject to section 31;
(iv) "capacity building" means investment made with the purpose of enhancing the ability of individuals and institutions to achieve their development goals;
(v) "charter service" means a public transport service operated by road involving the hire of a vehicle and a driver for a journey at a charge arranged beforehand with the operator, where—
(a) neither the operator nor the driver charges the passengers individual fares;
(b) the person hiring the service has the right to decide the route, date and time of travel; and
(c) the passengers are conveyed to a common destination;
(vi) "Code of Conduct" means the code of conduct prescribed for a province by the MEC under section 115;
(vii) "commercial service contract" means an agreement concluded between a contracting authority and a public transport operator, in terms of which the—
(a) operator is to operate a public transport service, provided for in a public transport plan;
(b) operator’s consideration consists of fares payable by the passengers that are carried and, where passengers pay concessionary fares, also of the reimbursement made by the contracting authority to that operator; and
(c) operator does not receive any subsidy or other financial support from any organ in any sphere of government and for the purposes of this paragraph, reimbursements made to the operator in respect of concessionary fares will not be regarded as a subsidy or other form of financial support;
(viii) "commuting" means travelling daily between home and work by means of a public transport service, and "commuter" has a corresponding meaning;
(ix) "concession agreement" or "concession" means any agreement between a public transport operator and a contracting authority for the operation of a public transport service on a railway line or rail network—
(a) in accordance with a public transport plan; and
(b) at a price and on a service level provided for in that agreement,
whether or not the public transport operator, in terms of the agreement, is also required to construct, maintain or rehabilitate the infrastructure and other assets used in connection with that service;
(xi) "Constitution" means the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act, 1996 (Act No. 108 of 1996);
(xii) "contracting authority" means the Department, any provincial department, transport authority, designated municipality and any core city, bound to a contract or concession agreement concluded with a public transport operator;
(xiii) "co-operative" means a co-operative as defined in section 1 of the Co-operatives Act, 1981 (Act No. 91 of 1981);
(xiv) "core city" means a municipality designated under section 4 of the Urban Transport Act, 1977 (Act No. 78 of 1977), as the core city of an MTA, and includes any municipality which, after the commencement of this Act, is so designated;
(xv) "courtesy service" means a transport service for customers or clients provided by an organisation which is not a public transport operator where the organisation provides its own vehicle or a vehicle provided by an operator in terms of a contract with that organisation;
(xvi) "cross-border road transport" means cross-border road transport as defined in section 1 of the Cross-Border Road Transport Act, 1998 (Act No. 4 of 1998);
(xvii) "current public transport record" means a transport plan contemplated in section 23;
(xviii) "current tendered contract" means a contract concluded before the commencement date of this Act for the operation of a public transport service between the Department or a province, on the one hand and, a public transport operator on the other hand, to whom the tender for the provision of a service was awarded by the State Tender Board or the competent provincial tender board or authority in accordance with law, and which is still binding between them, the term of which expires only after the date of the commencement of this Act, and includes a contract which is binding between the—
(a) public transport operator and a province due to the Department assigning its rights and obligations to the province irrespective of whether the assignment occurred before or after the commencement of this Act ; or
(b) public transport operator and a transport authority or a designated municipality or a core city to which the province, after the commencement of this Act—
(i) may have assigned its rights and obligations; or
(ii) as the case may be, may have further assigned the rights and obligations assigned to it by the Department in terms of paragraph (a);
(xix) "Department" means the Department of Transport in the national sphere of government;
(xx) "Director General" means the Director General of the Department;
(xxi) "framework" means an outline for the structure within and the form according to which a plan, policy or strategy is determined and developed;
(xxii) "grievance procedure" means the procedure laid down in the constitution of an association to resolve an internal grievance raised by a member or a group of members;
(xxiii) "infrastructure", in relation to land transport, means fixed capital equipment and facilities in the land transport system;
(xxiv) "inspector" means an inspector designated under section 122;
(xxv) "integrated development plan" means the integrated development plan which, in terms of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act No. 117 of 1998), is to be prepared by a municipality;
(xxvi) "integrated transport plan" means an integrated transport plan contemplated in section 27;
(xxvii) "interim contract" means a contract, not being a current tendered contract, for the operation of a subsidised scheduled service the term of which expires after the date of the commencement of this Act, and which—
(a) was concluded before that date between the province and the Department on the one hand and the public transport operator who is to operate that service on the other hand, and is still binding between them or only binding between the province and that operator; or
(b) is binding between that public transport operator and any transport authority or a core city or a municipality, due to the assignment to it, after the commencement of this Act, of the rights and obligations of the province under the contract contemplated in paragraph (a);
(xxviii) "interprovincial transport" means a public transport service operating between two or more provinces;
(xxix) "intraprovincial transport" means a public transport service operated within the boundaries of a province;
(xxx) "key performance indicator" means a yardstick or standard established to measure levels of performance and achievement;
(xxxi) "land transport" means the movement of persons and goods on or across land by means of any conveyance and through the use of an infrastructure and facilities in connection therewith;
(xxxii) "long distance service" means a scheduled or unscheduled public transport service operated by road, other than a service for commuting, that is provided beyond the boundary of the area covered by a transport plan, where passengers are charged fares individually;
(xxxiii) "MEC" means the member of the Executive Council of a province who is responsible for public transport in the province in question;
(xxxiv) "member" means a member of an association;
(xxxv) "metered taxi service" means a public transport service operated by means of a motor vehicle which is designed, or lawfully adapted in compliance with the Road Traffic Act, 1989 (Act No. 29 of 1989), to carry fewer than nine seated persons, including the driver, where that vehicle—
(a) is available for hire by hailing, by telephone or otherwise;
(b) may stand for hire at a rank; and
(c) is equipped with a sealed meter, in good working order, for the purpose of determining the fare payable;
(xxxvi) "midibus" means a motor vehicle designed, or lawfully adapted by a registered manufacturer in compliance with the Road Traffic Act, 1989 (Act No. 29 of 1989), to carry from 19 to 35 seated persons, excluding the driver;
(xxxvii) "minibus" means a motor vehicle designed, or lawfully adapted by a registered manufacturer in compliance with the Road Traffic Act, 1989 (Act No. 29 of 1989), to carry from nine to 18 seated persons, excluding the driver;
(xxxviii) "minibus taxi-type service" means an unscheduled public transport service operated on a specific route or routes, or where applicable, within a particular area, by means of a motor-car, minibus or midibus, subject to section 31;
(xxxix) "Minister" means the Minister of Transport in the national sphere of government;
(xL) "motor car" means a motor vehicle, other than a motor cycle, motor tricycle or motor quadrucycle as those vehicles are defined in the Road Traffic Act, 1989, (Act No. 29 of 1989), designed or lawfully adapted by a registered manufacturer to carry not more than eight persons, excluding the driver;
(xLi) "motor vehicle" and "vehicle" means a motor vehicle as defined in section 1 of the Road Traffic Act, 1989 (Act No. 29 of 1989);
(xLii) "MTA" means a metropolitan transport area declared and existing under section 3 of the Urban Transport Act, 1977 (Act No. 78 of 1977);
(xLiii) "municipality" includes all municipalities contemplated in section 155(6) of the Constitution, and in the case of a category C municipality contemplated in section 155(1)(c) thereof, also includes the Category B municipalities contemplated in section 155(1)(b) in its area;
(xLiv) "municipal transport operator" means a municipality which operates a public transport service or an organisation which operates such a service and in which the majority of the shares or the controlling interest is held by a municipality, or which is otherwise controlled or is owned by a municipality;
(xLv) "non-contracted service" means a public transport service other than one operated in terms of a commercial service contract, subsidised service contract, current tendered contract, interim contract or concession agreement;
(xLvi) "non-member" means any person, whether a natural person or a juristic person, who is not a member of an association;
(xLvii) "organ of state" means an organ of state as defined in section 239 of the Constitution;
(xLviii) "parastatal transport operator" means an organisation which operates a public transport service and in which the majority of the shares or the controlling interest is held by a province, or which is otherwise controlled or is owned by a province;
(xLix) "participating municipality" means any municipality that is party to a founding agreement for the establishment of a transport authority;
(xL) "permission" means a permission required by section 33, granted and issued in accordance with Part 16;
(Li) "permissions’ board" means the permissions’ board established for a province in compliance with section 30 to perform the functions mentioned in that section;
(Lii) "permissions strategy" means a transport plan consisting of a permissions strategy contemplated in section 24;
(Liii) "permit" means a public road carrier permit or similar authority issued under a previous law, and which is in force at the commencement of this Act in terms of section 78;
(Liv) "persons with disabilities" means all persons whose mobility is restricted by temporary or permanent physical or mental disability, and includes the very young, the blind or partially sighted, the deaf or hard of hearing;
(Lv) "planning authority" means any body which, in terms of section 20, has to prepare transport plans for its area;
(Lvi) "prescribed" means prescribed by regulation in terms of this Act, by the Minister or an MEC, as the case may be;
(Lvii) "previous law" means any law the operation and application of which is excluded by or in terms of section 3, and which is superseded by this Act in accordance with that section;
(Lviii) "provincial department" means the department within the administration of a province that is charged with public transport matters within the province;
(Lix) "provincial land transport framework" means a provincial land transport framework contemplated in section 22;
(Lx) "provincial law" includes the provisions of Chapter 3 and any other applicable provincial legislation;
(Lxi) "public transport operator" means a person carrying on the business of operating a public transport service;
(Lxii) "public transport plan" means a public transport plan contemplated in section 26;
(Lxiii) "public transport service" means a service for the carriage of passengers by road or rail, where the service is provided for a fare or other consideration or reward, including any service that is—
(a) operated in terms of a commercial service contract;
(b) operated in terms of a subsidised service contract;
(c) operated, in the interim, in terms of a current tendered contract or interim contract;
(d) a charter service;
(e) a long-distance service;
(f) a metered taxi service;
(g) an unscheduled service which includes a minibus taxi-type service;
(h) a scheduled service;
(i) a rail service;
(j) a tourist service;
(k) a staff service,
except if clearly inappropriate, the term "public transport" must be interpreted accordingly;
(Lxiv) "rail service" means a public transport service operated on a rail track or electro-magnetic guideway;
(Lxv) "rationalisation plan" means a plan contemplated in section 25;
(Lxvi) "registered", in relation to any association, the members of any association and any non-members, means their registration in the provincial transport register in accordance with this Act and relevant provincial laws;
(Lxvii) "registered manufacturer" means a manufacturer of motor vehicles registered under section 5 of the National Road Traffic Act, 1996 (Act No. 93 of 1996);
(Lxviii) "registered constitution" means an association’s constitution, filed in the Registrar’s records, pursuant to the association’s successful application for provisional or full registration;
(Lxix) "Registrar" means the person appointed as the provincial transport registrar for a province by its MEC in compliance with relevant provincial laws and section 52;
(Lxx) "replacing provincial law" means a law or a provision of a law of a provincial legislature with regard to matters to which Chapter 3 of this Act applies and which, for all or any of the arrangements made in Chapter 3, substitutes its own arrangements within the framework of the national land transport policy and the scope and ambit of the provisions of this Act;
(Lxxi) "roadworthy certificate" means a certificate certifying the roadworthiness of a motor vehicle in accordance with the requirements of the Road Traffic Act, 1989 (Act No. 29 of 1989);
(Lxxii) "scheduled service" means a public transport service operated by road by a motor car, minibus, midibus or bus on a particular route or routes in accordance with a timetable;
(Lxxiii) "special categories of passengers" means learners, persons with disabilities, tourists, transferring long distance passengers, the aged, pregnant women and those who are limited in their movements by children with or without pushchairs or prams;
(Lxxiv) "special event" means a cultural, religious, sporting or recreational event, or any entertainment, conference, exhibition or show, which is to occur or be held on a specific day or a number of specific consecutive days at a predetermined venue;
(Lxxv) "staff service" means a public transport service by road provided by means of a vehicle owned by an employer or a vehicle provided by a public transport operator in terms of a contract with the employer, when used exclusively for the conveyance of the employer’s employees;
(Lxxvi) "subsidised service contract" means an agreement, other than an interim contract or a current tendered contract, concluded between a contracting authority and a public transport operator to operate a scheduled service provided for in a public transport plan and in terms of which the public transport operator, in addition to the passenger fares paid, receives financial support in terms of a tendered contract;
(Lxxvii) "this Act" includes any regulation made an in force in terms of section 7 or 63;
(Lxxviii) "time table" means a published document informing passengers of headways intervals between departures or the passing of vehicles or times when and places where public transport services are available, indicating at least origin and destination points and significant intermediate locations along the route;
(Lxxix) "tourist service" means a public transport service by road for the carriage of tourists to or from tourist attractions, where the tourists are accompanied by a tour guide registered under section 21 of the Tourism Act, 1993 (Act No. 72 of 1993);
(Lxxx) "transfer" in relation to a permission means a transfer from the holder of the permission to another person;
(Lxxxi) "transport area" means the area of a transport authority, declared under section 67;
(Lxxxii) "transport authority" means the authority declared under section 65 for a transport area;
(Lxxxiii) "transport plan" means any plan provided for in section 19;
(Lxxxiv) "travel demand management" means a system of actions to maximise the capacity of the transport system for the movement of people and goods rather than vehicles, among others, through increasing vehicle occupancy, developing priority measures for public transport, encouraging travel during off-peak periods, shifting demand between modes, restricting the space available for parking, adjusting the price of parking, and other appropriate measures;
(Lxxxv) "unscheduled service" means a public transport service operated by road on a particular route or routes, or, where applicable, within a particular area, without a time table, where passengers are charged fares individually.
(2) Any reference in this Chapter, Chapter 2 or Chapter 4, to Chapter 3 or any part, section or provision of Chapter 3, however expressed, must in the case where there is a replacing provincial law, be regarded and treated as a reference to the corresponding chapter, part, section or provision of that replacing law.
Purpose and scope of Act
2. (1) This Act provides the measures necessary to—
(a) transform and to restructure the Republic’s land transport system;
(b) give effect to the national policy concerning the first phases of the process and
(c) achieve a smooth transition to the new system applicable nationally.
(2) Chapter 2 of this Act prescribes those policies, principles, requirements, guidelines, frameworks, norms and standards that necessarily must be the same for all the provinces of the Republic, and other matters contemplated in section 146(2) of the Constitution, in order to achieve and deal effectively with the transformation and restructuring of the land transport system of the Republic nationally, in the process introducing and establishing the new land transport system contemplated in subsection (1), for the Republic as a whole;
Application of Act in provinces
3. (a) This Chapter, Chapter 2 and Chapter 4 are regarded as provisions contemplated in section 146(2) of the Constitution and apply to the exclusion of any other law that is in force in any province or in the Republic as a whole and which is inconsistent with that Chapter.
(b) Chapter 3—
(i) does not apply in a province in so far as it relates to a matter with regard to which there is a replacing provincial law in force in the province concerned, to the extent that such a replacing law deals with the matter;
(ii) applies to the exclusion of any other law of any province with regard to a matter dealt with in Chapter 3 in so far as the province’s law is inconsistent with Chapter 2.