The country’s first National Public Transport Regulator (NPTR) roadshow will be held on February 27 by the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) in partnership with its member associations and the Department of Transport, to address the challenges faced by tourist transport operators.

The roadshow will be held at the Hilton Sandton from 09h00 until 16h00. Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo operators are welcome to attend the event.

The roadshow will be welcomed by frustrated tourist transport operators who are still waiting for operating licences, despite a reassurance from the Department of Transport (DoT) that the backlog would be cleared by September 30 last year.

For the past several years, SATSA has been engaging intensively with the DoT to clear the backlog and reduce the red tape surrounding the granting of operator licences. In June 2022, SATSA CEO, David Frost, pleaded with President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene in the “catastrophe” that was “strangling” the recovery of local tourism businesses.

Frost highlighted the fact that hundreds of tour operators had been forced to work illegally while waiting more than three years to obtain transport operator licences and renewals from the NPTR.

TBCSA announced the roadshow in a statement which reads: “The NPTR team will be present to engage with businesses on the challenges they have encountered and to ensure that they are back on the road without experiencing any challenges with the law. At the session, all your queries will be resolved.

“Tourism wheel operators are requested to bring their application numbers. Those that do not have application numbers, remember the date the application/s was lodged. TBCSA also encourages transport operators to bring all the paperwork required for lodging applications. Further, applicants who have been requested to submit recent documents will be allowed to submit such documents at the venue.”

To attend the roadshow, please RSVP to limpho@tbcsa.travel by February 23.