Cape Town - Cape Town residents now have the option to order a minibus taxi to shuttle them to and from their destinations via a new phone app sanctioned by the Western Cape government.

The app, called Loop, was developed by a Cape Town tech start-up. On Monday, the Loop team met Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, Mobility MEC Daylin Mitchell and transport and public works portfolio committee member Ricardo Mackenzie to engage on the logistics of the new e-hailing service at Mitchells Plain taxi rank.

Loop’s Jamie Wyngaard said the purpose of the engagement with the government and their teams was to hear from them about how the government and the community feel about Loop and the service’s shadow call centre being set up in the community of Mitchells Plain.

Wyngaard said: “Loop service is app-based, and the vision is to evolve the service to allow individual commuters to use the service to book their taxi trips to work, shops, school and everywhere else that citizens go using taxis.”

He said: “The users of our service are at the centre of the work we do. This applies to taxi operators, drivers and commuters alike. With this event today we are saying that we are building a service fit for the premier and his ministers, but we are building that service for our community members.

“We are building that service for our taxi operators and taxi drivers who play such an incredibly important role in our economy and society. Loop’s shuttle service is currently available on our website, and our prices are affordable, especially if you’re splitting the fare,” Wyngaard said.

Loop founder Imtiyaaz Riley said: “We are happy to be receiving this kind of support from the premier and Minister Mitchell, who represent the Western Cape government. We are very aware of the visionary conversations around urban mobility that Minister Mitchell is leading.”

Both Riley and Wyngaard grew up on the Cape Flats. Having grown up in Manenberg and having started other entrepreneurial ventures, Riley’s family has a long history in the taxi industry. Wyngaard grew up in Montana and studied biology at the University of the Western Cape and Design Thinking at UCT.

“As active citizens and entrepreneurs, we see ourselves playing a major role in bringing Premier Winde and Minister Mitchell’s visions to life. We are not waiting for the government to do things for us. We are stepping up to do things with the government, that’s the Loop approach. That’s how Loop sees things, and we are very glad that the Western Cape government shares our vision,” Riley said.

Premier Alan Winde and MEC Daylin Mitchell and members of their teams took a minibus taxi that the premier booked using the Loop app. Loop is a Cape Town tech start-up that enables commuters to book a minibus taxi as a shuttle service for one-off trips. The service is app-based, and the vision is to evolve the service to allow individual commuters to use the service to book their taxi trips to work, shops, school and everywhere else that citizens go using taxis. Picture: Armand Hough African News Agency (ANA)

Cape Argus