There will soon be more Santro and Indica taxis on Mumbai roads. Taxi drivers are being told by their unions to slowly phase out the current Premier Padmini cabs.

"The taxis have become old now and we are planning to replace them with second-hand Santros and Indicas. In my general meeting next week, I will be telling the taxi drivers to buy such cars. The union will take care of the loan," said A L Quadros, general secretary, Mumbai Taximen's Union.

In Quadros's union of 55,000 taxi drivers, around 15 have already changed to the newer cars. Taxi drivers have long been complaining about replacing the present taxis.
"Purchasing a new car and then converting it to a taxi costs. So second-hand cars are a batter option," added Quadros. However, Mushtaq Qureshi, founder president of the City Taxi Union, which has around 25,000 members, claims he has already got more than 100 Premier taxis replaced by Indicas and Santros.

A CNG Santro or Indica should not be older than seven years. And if they have been running on diesel, not older than five years.