NESHWIN ALMEIDA
MARGAO: While Mahesh Sardessai’s petition on change.org reaches 6716 supporters and still needs another 784 to reach 7500, (as of late evening on May 1) the debate and discussion of taxi drivers fleecing commuters in Goa continues.
For example taxi drivers have been spreading rumours of taxi aggregators, or rather app-based taxi fleets, as stealing jobs from Goan taxi drivers or the whole operation as bringing more migrants to Goa.
But Janice Travasso, who works in Mumbai, explains, “I always have conversations with cabbies in Mumbai. Taxi drivers who opt for Ola and Uber are locals who changed their professions from being salesmen or odd job workers to being taxi drivers and earning more.”
Janice explains how locals can now take a simple car loan and join the taxi fleet and get business on the move through an app as clients request taxis rather than being associated to taxi unions and be forced to serve only guests from a particular hotel or particular locality.
“In an app-based taxi booking, the pricing is pre-decided and is uniform for all for any distance. Unlike currently how Goan cabbies bill you based on if you’re going to a casino or fine dining restaurant, or depending on how much you spend at a supermarket, or depending on how many sterling pounds, dollars or roubles they see in your wallet. It’s rather unfortunate, how the current cabbies fleece you,” explains Riyaz Sheikh who recently travelled to Goa.
Photographer Prasad Pankar says he’s not in favour of specifically Uber or Ola but feels that the CM should get or ask a Goan firm to start a similar enterprise that keeps in mind the interest of the local taxi drivers.
Joe Pereira, a Carmona resident asserted that his friend recently visited Goa and he spent more on his commuting within the state than his accommodation in Goa.
But, having until recently lived in Goa and is now back in Delhi, Ankita Kanwar believes that adding to the existing fleet could mean too many cars in enviably empty roads of Goa so hence locals need to be sensitised and honest taxi drivers should be taken into the network taxi fold.
“There’s also taxi drivers from Goa who talk of going one way empty because locals don’t hail a cab or that hotels and airlines charge so much in Goa and hence why not taxis. But all that is a myth and excuse to fleece people. If there’s a viable service of taxis it will serve both locals and tourists and Goans will even get rid of their cars,” stated Jerome Dias from Cuncolim who depends on rickshaws and motorcycle pilots for his parents commute who are above 80-years of age.
But what is interesting here is that many locals are speaking of an arrangement which need not necessarily mean getting Uber and Ola into Ola. The focus here is to get regulated and a home grown taxi app devised by a Goan company linking all registered taxi owners. And section of the taxi fraternity are indeed not averse to this tough in order to a common front, they haven’t spoken out against this.
Jeorge Fernandes, the former President of the All Goa Taxi Association, who moved to London over a year ago has been very vocal against his fraternity indulging in any violence and harassing tourists. At the same time he is against radio cab giants Ola and Uber coming to Goa, but is all for local app-based radio cabs. Speaking to Herald he said, “Why copy someone when we can have our own Goan cabbies with innovative model? For that we need two things – amendments in Motor Vehicles Act of 1984 that enforce meters on all tourist taxi and then government stop all private cars doing business.
