Sunday, April 24, 2016

An overview

Inanda taxi rank at the bottom of Steve Biko Road in the Market area in Durban
I was willing to climb the scaffolding of that new DUT residence building (in the background of this picture with the green shade cloth) in order to get a good picture of this rank. When I peered over the fencing to where the workers were having their lunch break, I had second thoughts. I was wearing a skirt and I didn't have a hard hat - it would be really difficult to "ask nicely" all things considered. 

There was another option. 

The Durban fire station across the road had a drill tower; four or five stories high. If there was a stairwell I could get to the top and snap a shot of the taxi rank for a presentation I was due to give.

Better than that! One of the firemen offered for me to go up nearly 40m in a small 2 person metal basket, powered by a hydraulic stretch ladder. This is one of the coolest features of their "small" fire engine. 

It was high, very high! And this is one of the photos I took. I didn't dare look down, I kept my eyes focussed through the view finder of my camera and took as many pictures as I could. It sways in the wind! I held onto the railing of the metal basket and only adjust the lens briefly between shots. The operator was as calm as a cloud. We were over the road, almost over the bus stop over the road. And high! Higher than Moses Mabida stadium.

Down there, you can take a taxi to Umhlanga, LaLucia, Durban North, Siyanda, Lindelani, and more. They call this the Inanda rank because its over the road from the Inanda Bus rank. There are numerous taxi associations that operate from this rank. Each association has a rank marshall which coordinates with their fleet of taxis, making sure that there is always a taxi for each destination. When full with commuters, the taxis leave and the rank marshall will call for another from the holding area or parking lot.

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