Beacon Bay residents are fuming about the Bonza Bay taxi rank, which they say has become too small and is obstructing traffic.
The rank, on Bonza Bay Road between Pell Street and Beaconhurst Drive, has become a danger to traffic because taxis double park and hinder visibility making the area a danger zone for collisions.
Resident Clare Fowle said she had had an accident last year because of the chaos.
“It is impossible to view traffic coming down Bonza Bay Road with the taxis parked where they are. In June last year I had an accident at that intersection because the visibility was non-existent,” said Fowle, who approached Daily Dispatch staff at a recent Café Newsroom event.
She said she had been corresponding with BCM for almost 10 years about the problem and in 2008 was told that the Bonza Bay Road spatial development framework plan would be completed as soon as funding became available.
“I don’t know what that means, but of course nothing has happened.
“The taxis have increased in number and lawlessness and I just gave up complaining,” said Fowle, who now uses alternative routes in order to avoid the area.
“I think the traffic cops are scared of the taxis because they are never removed from the road, even when they are badly un-roadworthy. There is just no control.”
She said although she understands the need for a taxi rank in the suburb, a different solution should be found.
Ward 4 councillor Marion Mackley agreed. “Parked taxis protrude into the road and it is getting out of hand,” she said.
Beacon Bay Ratepayers’ Association (BBRA) chairman Malcolm Symons said he had received “lots” of complaints from residents about the taxi rank and that the problem had been discussed at length at ward meetings.
“We wrote to BCM three or four months ago and they said there would be a R40-million taxi rank in the future. It’s all pie in the sky.”
Symons said they wanted a similar rank built further along Bonza Bay Road in front of Spargs, where there was more room, “and for more law enforcement”.
BBRA member Johan Koekemoer said: “If you come from Beaconhurst Drive and want to turn right or go straight through the circle it is often impossible to see if traffic is coming because the taxis sometimes park three or four of each other.
“It’s dangerous and frustrating and I can understand if people point fingers and swear.”
A resident who did not want to be named said he had seen “many smashes” in the area.
“They have no mercy and sometimes just shoot past the circle and turn right to the taxi rank. I have seen a flipped-over car lying there. They are a law unto themselves.”
No response to questions sent to BCM on Tuesday had been received at the time of writing. — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
Bonza Bay taxi rank endangering lives
The rank, on Bonza Bay Road between Pell Street and Beaconhurst Drive, has become a danger to traffic because taxis double park and hinder visibility making the area a danger zone for collisions.
Resident Clare Fowle said she had had an accident last year because of the chaos.
“It is impossible to view traffic coming down Bonza Bay Road with the taxis parked where they are. In June last year I had an accident at that intersection because the visibility was non-existent,” said Fowle, who approached Daily Dispatch staff at a recent Café Newsroom event.
She said she had been corresponding with BCM for almost 10 years about the problem and in 2008 was told that the Bonza Bay Road spatial development framework plan would be completed as soon as funding became available.
“I don’t know what that means, but of course nothing has happened.
“The taxis have increased in number and lawlessness and I just gave up complaining,” said Fowle, who now uses alternative routes in order to avoid the area.
“I think the traffic cops are scared of the taxis because they are never removed from the road, even when they are badly un-roadworthy. There is just no control.”
She said although she understands the need for a taxi rank in the suburb, a different solution should be found.
Ward 4 councillor Marion Mackley agreed. “Parked taxis protrude into the road and it is getting out of hand,” she said.
Beacon Bay Ratepayers’ Association (BBRA) chairman Malcolm Symons said he had received “lots” of complaints from residents about the taxi rank and that the problem had been discussed at length at ward meetings.
“We wrote to BCM three or four months ago and they said there would be a R40-million taxi rank in the future. It’s all pie in the sky.”
Symons said they wanted a similar rank built further along Bonza Bay Road in front of Spargs, where there was more room, “and for more law enforcement”.
BBRA member Johan Koekemoer said: “If you come from Beaconhurst Drive and want to turn right or go straight through the circle it is often impossible to see if traffic is coming because the taxis sometimes park three or four of each other.
“It’s dangerous and frustrating and I can understand if people point fingers and swear.”
A resident who did not want to be named said he had seen “many smashes” in the area.
“They have no mercy and sometimes just shoot past the circle and turn right to the taxi rank. I have seen a flipped-over car lying there. They are a law unto themselves.”
No response to questions sent to BCM on Tuesday had been received at the time of writing. — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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