While they’re the most common form of public transport in South Africa, navigating the minibus taxi system as a novice can be intimidating. The vehicles depart in seemingly random, unscheduled patterns, the routes are fragmented and can unexpectedly change, and the skilled but reckless drivers use multiple hand signals and often take unpredictable detours.
When Litha Soyizwapi arrived in Johannesburg a number of years ago, he found himself struggling to come to grips with this complex, convoluted system.
A Johannesburg-based graphic designer and self-taught iOS developer, Soyizwapi is also the creative director and founder of the GauRider App – a mobile application that allows users to access quick, real time information about the next Gautrain or bus time. When he moved from Port Elizabeth to Jozi, he needed to use the taxis to get to his place of work and quickly learned how daunting it could be.