11-08-2025
Dial-a-Ride to limit eligibility
STRAIN: Abram Lintnaar of Atlantis is one of the affected commuters
The City of Cape Town's Dial-a- Ride (DaR) said their services are oversubscribed and that they are experiencing severe capacity challenges with its R28.2 million annual budget being insufficient for the current R40 million operating costs.
This has been met with concern by its users.
The City announced that effective 8 September 2025, the DaR service will exclusively transport eligible wheelchair users and those with severe walking impairments.
They detailed that services will be available Monday to Friday during peak periods, with minimal weekend and public holiday services for work-related travel and that trips will be strictly between work and home and not for recreational activities or otherwise.
In a statement, the City explained: 'Over the past two decades,... the service has expanded to include commuter trips to educational, medical, recreational facilities, shopping centres, and private home visits and the user base grew to include users with other special needs.
'Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, the DaR service needs to be realigned with its core mandate: namely to transport eligible wheelchair users and those with severe walking impairments, and to limit these trips between the users' homes and places of work.'
Last year, the City stopped the service to Atlantis and Abram Lintnaar, 51, has had to make his own way to his workplace at the Cape Town Society for the Blind.
He said: "This is just discrimination, I have approached the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in the past about this matter.
'I struggle to get to work and come home, I have to pay people to take me to a bus stop."
The SAHRC earlier said they would be investigating the claims and concerns raised by Lintnaar.
