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.
According to TSAM’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Leon Theron: “Toyota had already committed to these taxi support initiatives when the government introduced national lockdown regulations in March. We are pleased to have been able to flight, distribute and publish some of the marketing and educational material in the beginning of the lockdown when most South Africans were still coming to grips with what the Coronavirus is.”
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* (at the bottom of the release). TSAM has also created posters, flyers, vehicle decals and T-Shirts that are currently being distributed to taxi associations.
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.
“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.
“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,” concludes Theron.
Provided by Toyota South Africa
