Source: Government of South Africa
Thursday, November 20, 2025
The Department of Transport has urged e-hailing operators to convert their charter permits and meter taxi operating licences to e-hailing operating licences.
This comes in the wake of a concern regarding a snail’s pace of e-hailing platform companies and individuals registering their platforms with the National Public Transport Regulator – an entity of the department.
“The department has therefore urged all providers of e-hailing platforms working with e-hailing operators to register their digital platforms with the National Public Transport Regulator (NPTR), as a matter of priority.
“Without a registered app no operator will be able to convert to e-hailing operating licence or apply for a new e-hailing operating licence. This means after 180 days [from 12 September 2025], those who have not converted will automatically become illegal operators,” the department said on Thursday.
The National Land Transport Amendment Act, 2009 (Act No. 5 of 2009), along with Regulations, requires e-hailing platform providers to register their digital applications with the department through the NPTR.
“Providers who are not registered with the NPTR will not appear in the databases maintained by the provincial regulators in the nine provinces. Consequently, this will impact e-hailing operators seeking to apply for an operating license at the provincial level using their digital platforms,” the department said.
According to the department’s e-hailing Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), applications should be submitted using Form 9A, which can be obtained from the department’s website (www.transport.gov.za) under the NPTR link.
Applications can be submitted in person, via email, by post. The application fee is R5 000 for a period of 7 years.
Additional details regarding the registration process for e-hailing app providers and contact details for the NPTR office are as follows: 012 3093752/ 3093237/ 3093024 email: NPTR@dot.gov.za. –SAnews.gov.za