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Gautrain to enter SA’s e-hailing market
Over the weekend, the Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) announced the launch of Gau Express, an e-hailing service designed to provide easy transport to and from its stations to ensure efficient, safe and reliable passenger experience.
For many years, Gautrain customers have been using e-hailing services like Uber and Bolt to move from the stations to their desired destinations but in most Gautrain stations, these e-hailing services are prohibited from these premises, forcing customers to leave and walk distances away from the station to board this transport. Therefore, placing people’s lives in danger.
The well-known and trusted e-hailing services have been linked criminal acts of kidnapping, human-trafficking, robberies, etc. Making the public lose trust. So, with this new e-hailing service provided by Gautrain, trust will be regained, because looking at the services it provides currently, they are responsible for personally hiring the drivers and their transports usually have the brand’s logo and taglines.
Gau Express
The CEO of Gautrain, Tshepo Kgobe mentioned that they want to be better than Uber and Bolt. They want to offer a service that will allow their customers to commute at their desired time, offer better services within the premises the customer will feel safe in, affordable prices and regain the public’s trust in the e-hailing market.
People expressed their opinions on social media, most of them seem happy with this new service but others think otherwise, like Jane KC on X, formerly known as Twitter, said:
“Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Stick to your core business. There are sufficient e-hailing apps, you just don’t ensure safety for your passengers to use them because in this country taxi mafia rule the roads.”
Looking back, the taxi industry has a hard time allowing Uber and Bolt to transport people, will they allow the Gautrain to operate this e-hailing service? Should South Africans be ready to face another taxi – e-hailing massacre?
With regard to these questions, the GMA said it will continue to engage with shareholders and key stakeholders to ensure the service is well-integrated and contribute to the broader public transport system in Gauteng.
