 |
|
No cheating involved: Prepaid taxis charge a fare specified by the Regional Transport Office for different places. They are already running in Pune, Nagpur and Delhi stations. File PIC |
Despite assurances that prepaid taxi booths would be installed at these stations by monsoon, it has not allotted space for them till now. The Andheri RTO had given permission to run prepaid taxis from the stations way back in March 2007.
As a result, many passengers end up paying more than double the actual fare. "The cabbie charged me three times the actual fare from Mumbai Central to my home in Kandivli. I had no other option, but to pay him since he started arguing. Prepaid taxis are a must at all the railway stations because the cabbies charge random amounts and cheat passengers," said Sunil Singh.
Complaints
The Government Railway Police (GRP) last year booked 38,000 cases against taxi drivers for overcharging passengers. This year,
they have recorded 29,000 cases so far. Vijay Kumar Godbole, senior PI, GRP, said, "We register 100 such cases a day. Many drivers have been caught red-handed trying to cheat passengers." The GRP collected a total of Rs 32 lakh in fine last year and Rs 26 lakh this year from dishonest drivers.
The GRP receives complaints about tampered meters, cabbies opting for a longer route, using uncouth language and threatening passengers. Several efforts to contact the WR spokesperson did not yield results.
It won't happen at the domestic airport, as more than 1,600 cabbies have decided to charge fixed fares from next month
Within a month, citizens can enjoy the benefits of prepaid taxis at Mumbai's domestic terminal. After a two-year fight, over 1,600 cabbies operating at the domestic airport agreed last week to start the prepaid taxi facility.
"We agreed to start the service, as otherwise the space would be allocated to private taxi operators," said taxi union leader Guddu Singh. Cabbies were against this service because they felt that the concept of fixed fares was pro-passenger and would result in losses for them.
Clear all doubts
However, before the service begins, there are some differences that need to be sorted out. "There is a difference in taxi fares at the international and domestic terminals. The prepaid taxi service will start only when the matter is resolved by the transport department," said an airport official. He added that taxi unions also want a clear differentiation between rent-a-car services and the prepaid taxi facility.
Need of the hour
Transport Commissioner Shyamsundar Shinde said prepaid taxis were the need of the hour. "This service is essential considering the growth of the low-cost airline industry, coupled with the stupendous rise in domestic passenger traffic," said Shinde.
Commuters have greeted this development with enthusiasm.
"It costs me Rs 140 to reach Worli from the domestic airport, but there have been times when cabbies have tampered with the meter and charged Rs 300 to Rs 500," said George Abraham, a regular commuter.
He added that since at the end of a tiring journey, nobody wants to fight with the taxi driver, people give in to their demands.
