By: Pamela Sibiya

Inanda passengers are overjoyed to finally go back to their taxi rank after months of renovations.

The taxi rank, together with four other major ranks in the Durban CBD, was renovated.

The renovations began last year and the Inanda rank was one of the last ones to be completed.

Amid the renovations, the ranks and passengers were relocated to other nearby places where they could take their taxis.

Sindisiwe Hadebe, a passenger from Amaoti in Inanda said that she is relieved that they are finally going back to their ranks.

“I’m glad that it’s finally done. It was a bit problematic at the temporary ones because there was no shelter, we were getting rained on or burnt by the sun”, she said.

It is not only commuters who were affected by this, but businesses of the people with food stalls in ranks were also affected.

Muziwakhe Biyela sells goods in taxi ranks and says he is relieved that his business will sustain him again.

“I had to use a large trolley so that I could move around selling foodstuffs and it was a bit of a strain as there was no shelter to protect foods like apples from the sun,” he said.

Madlala also said that his business had suffered a bit and he’s sure that it will pick up again.

“At the temporary ranks, commuters didn’t have time to buy as they were also trying to avoid the sunny or rainy weather, that way my business was badly affected,” he said.

Taxi driver, Sbongiseni Nhleko also expressed joy over the reopening of the rank.

“It’s going to be much better here, though people were now used to the temporary ranks, it still didn’t feel like these ones, I’m glad about this,” he said.

The renovations include the replenishing of new shelters and fixing of toilets.