taxi, noun

Origin:
English, South African EnglishShow more Special sense of general English taxi a vehicle which transports passengers to a requested destination for a metered fare (in which sense the word is also used in South African English).
1. Often with defining words, as black taxi, kombi taxi, minibus taxi, to distinguish this type of vehicle from a metered taxi: a light vehicle, now usually a sixteen-seater minibus, which transports passengers on a fixed route for a set fare (as does a bus), but does not operate to a time-table; kombi taxi, see kombi sense 2; kwela-kwela sense 2. Also attributive. See also Mary Decker sense b, Sabta, Zola Budd sense b.
Note:
Such taxis operate on both urban and long-distance routes. This kind of service was probably introduced in the 1950s; until the late 1970s the vehicle used was normally a large motor car, and relatively few were in service. Estimates now put the number of taxis at anywhere between 50 000 and 100 000.
1973 E. Prov. Herald 27 Mar. 1Many of the Black spectators arrived two hours before the match — brought in by a massive convoy of hired buses and pirate taxis.
1983 Commission of Inquiry into Bus Passenger Transport (RP50–1983) 24The ‘taxi industry’..consists of the ordinary legal taxi.., the legal kombi-type taxi that is normally used as a minibus and the pirate taxi that is in most cases a kombi-type of vehicle and used illegally.
1983 Commission of Inquiry into Bus Passenger Transport (RP50–1983) 25In the Soweto area, 694 ordinary sedan cars and 881 eight-seater vehicles are..registered as taxis. In addition, 181 cars and 164 kombi-type vehicles are registered for use in..Johannesburg and Soweto...The number of unauthorized ‘taxis’ operating in these areas is estimated to be 3600 to 4000.
1984 Frontline Mar. 13Rival wings of the Black Taxi Association fight each other in court.
1987 Christian Science Monitor (U.S.A.) 10 Mar. 12Each morning..about 500,000 Sowetans board trains, buses, or one of some 4,000 privately run mini-bus ‘taxis’ into Johannesburg.
1987 Personality 30 Sept. 39Experts..estimate that about 80 percent of all minibus taxis are run by pirate operators.
1989 A. Donaldson in Style Aug. 98By mid-1988 it was widely held that the booming black taxi business had saved the country’s motor industry...The industry..is huge: Investment in black taxis is estimated at R3 000-million...Turnover is said to be around R2 000-million a year. And you can probably double that figure if you include pirate taxis.
1990 C. McCaul No Easy Ride p.vSome 625 000 African commuters travel to work in taxis every day.
2. combination
taxi war, a violent feud between groups of minibus-taxi operators over the right to use a taxi route or taxi rank.
1979 Daily Dispatch 6 Apr. 1Taxi war blamed after man in mask kills...Taxi owner..could have been shot dead in a new taxi war...A war is raging between licensed taxi drivers and pirate taxis. Trouble is believed to have flared when licensed drivers decided to operate between Mdantsane and King William’s Town and in the rural areas in the Zwelitsha district. Pirate taxis have been operating on the same route.
1990 M. Malunga in Weekly Mail 8 June 9The spate of taxi wars, in which dozens of people have been killed, is rooted in work conditions, say drivers.
1991 M. Mbatha in Pace Feb. 39In February and March 1990, a taxi war in Katlehong on the East rand enveloped the whole community in factional violence, leaving up to 50 people dead...During 1988 and 1989 there were also serious taxi wars in Alexandra...10 people died in clashes between the Alexandra Taxi Association and a rival taxi group.
1992 M. Mtsheketshe in South 27 Feb. 3The search for a solution to the Western Cape’s tragic taxi war has been widened.
Often with defining words, as black taxi, kombi taxi, minibus taxi, to distinguish this type of vehicle from a metered taxi:a light vehicle, now usually a sixteen-seater minibus, which transports passengers on a fixed route for a set fare (as does a bus), but does not operate to a time-table; kombi taxi, see kombi sense 2; kwela-kwela sense 2. Also attributive.
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