In a shocking case of ‘killing the golden goose’, close to 100 foreign tourists, passengers on the cruise ship ‘Ocean Odyssey’ that arrived at the Mormugao Port earlier this month were forced to go back to their ship without even going for their pre-booked sight-seeing trip in Goa as the local taxi union members obstructed the buses that was supposed to take them on their tour.
Not only did this incident leave all the tourists extremely frustrated and angry over what had transpired, the cruise ship is also considering not visiting Goa again. According to reliable sources, the owners of the ship reported this matter to the American Embassy in Delhi, who will be bringing up this issue with the Central government as American citizens were held’ hostage’. This is considered to have very serious repercussions for the cruise tourism industry in Goa.
If this was not enough, there is no clarity regarding the taxi operators who will operate at the Manohar International Airport, Mopa as there is no system yet regarding who is going to be registered and operate from there. Government says it is introducing a Goa Taxi App but most of the taxi operators are unwilling to join the app.
This is not the first time the taxi operators in the State have held the tourism sector at ransom. Plying without proper metres, charging exorbitant fares, misbehaving with tourists, not allowing other app-based taxi operators to ply in the State are some of the teething issues that are hurting the tourism sector of Goa.
We as a State have failed to address the concerns of all, so that we have a proper, robust friendly system, which benefits both - the tourists and the locals. These problems have been going on for such a long time and no resolution seems to be in sight.
However, it would be unfair to blame only the taxi lobby, though the taxi associations have a lot of questions to answer. We have to understand their point of view but at the same time, let us also accept one basic point that there can’t be so many unhappy people if the system is right.
Goa is a place known for lack of regulated taxi fares. It is perhaps one of the very few international tourist destinations that don’t have a regulated system and does not offer choice to the customers regarding modes of transport.
This is the charge by people, who use taxis for their commuting. Let everyone understand that ultimately, we all need a solution to this problem, in the interest of Goa. Otherwise the goose that lays the golden eggs, will get killed and nobody will benefit from it – be it the tour operators, taxi operators or the cruise operators.
Sharing his initial thoughts on the entire quagmire, Sanjeev Sardessai, a senior heritage promoter and a hands-on historian, said that Goa has a tag that it is a destination for all kinds of tourists – domestic and international.
“I have been in this industry since 1981. Somewhere in 1995, the feeling I got, which continues even today, is that there is no tourism in Goa. This I felt because we didn’t have a proper Tourism Policy even after 40 years of liberation. The tourism sector over the years has grown into a money making industry for all of us. What happened at MPT is not new. A similar incident occurred at the Dabolim International Airport in 1987 and I think what had to be nipped in the bud then by the administration and the industry through logical discussion, not by using force, didn’t happen. If these types of incidents carry on, we will certainly be killing the goose that lays golden eggs,” Sardessai said.
The important question here is, if Goa doesn’t have a proper transportation system, which includes taxis, can tour operators carry out their business?
Orlando Nunes, General Manager Operations, Trail Blazers and Tours said, “Basically, taxis are part of the tourism business. We have two sets of taxis – the ‘Yellow-Black’ and the ‘White’ taxis. They have mushroomed a lot, but do not have a system in place. They are posted at hotel gates, the airport and other tourism facilities. But what happens is they don’t have printed rates at any of their outlets. They cause nuisance to us, the tour operators, who bring the business into the State.”
He said that the operators are not able to freely give the services, which have been promised to the guests.
“Our obligation towards the tourists is to conduct guided tours – be it cruise liners or charters. They obstruct us by saying the guests are staying in hotels and the operators don’t have any right to take them out. It is only the taxi operators who can do it. This has been going on since long. I have been in this business since 1994 and it’s going on since then,” Nunes said.
He said that the government has failed to come out with a proper policy. “But even if they come with it, the taxi operators won’t follow. Somewhere down the line, there has to be strict implementation or a rule saying that if you follow the system, everyone benefits,” he said.
What is surprising is that this issue has been going on for the past 10 years. There has to be a colossal failure of the system to allow something like this to carry on for such a long time. Why have we failed in resolving this vexed issue for so long as no State can tolerate something as basic as transportation issue, if you call yourself a tourism destination?
Lyndon Alves, a senior tourism professional said that this issue hasn’t been happening for the past 10-12 years. This issue has been going on since the 1990s.
“In 1992, I had been managing three or more flights a week from Scandinavia and since that time we have been seeing this problem. We had a problem. We had Scandinavian tourists and even guides. They had to be ferried in coaches because we couldn’t provide one guide per taxi because they came from abroad. Problem is, though the government wants a solution, they are divided within. So, there is no proper direction,” Alves said.
“We are not looking at the consequential problems caused by the taxi issue. If you see north Goa, there is a chronic problem of traffic congestion. Due to the lack of affordable taxis, tourists drive down, but they don’t know the roads. They are hiring rent-a-car and rent-a bike by the hundreds. This is crowding the roads,” he said.
How do you have a solution to the problem without the government having a very well focussed coordinated effort in this direction?
“If we look at the past, every MLA has had his own little bearings in the whole situation. Hence, there is no joint solution to the problem. But if the government actually gets its act together, I don’t see any problems in solving this issue,” the tourism professional said.
In any tourism destination, the taxi system is seen as the partners, ambassadors and even service providers. In Goa, the feeling amongst the customers who hire taxi service is that they being service providers, it is all about the benefits of taxi operators. It is always the “my way or the highway” syndrome.
Because of this, any attempts to streamline the system, like having fixed taxi rates or app-based taxis, have not worked because they have always been adamant in having things as per their needs.
Also, the feeling is, the politicians need votes during elections and the taxi operators form an important vote-bank, politicians are inclined to look at the way sought by them and not what is actually needed for the whole of Goa.
Responding to these observations, Sunil Naik, ex-president of Yellow-Black Taxi Association said that they have a counter at the Karmali railway station. All the rates are fixed there, as per the destination and the distance in kilometres. Day and night time charges are specified.
“All destinations have been specified along with the charges in alphabetical order. If you want to go to the airport, the fare is Rs 1,060. One can find these fares mentioned at all the railway stations and bus stands having our counters. These fares have been fixed by the government and the ‘yellow-Black’ taxi operators are religiously following it. I can’t vouch for the same in case of ‘White’ taxis,” Naik said.
He also insisted that the government should bring all stakeholders onboard and speak to them, which is not happening.
“At least four to five times, the Chief Minister has said that he will call all the stakeholders. But till now nobody has called us till now,” he said.
While there are ‘Yellow-Black’ taxis from airport and railway stations, it is very difficult to get a taxi from Curtorim to Panjim or Baga to Arambol. How does one source a taxi in such a situation?
“Out taxi service is only point-to-point. We will drop and come back. There are taxis near the hotels to ferry passengers further,” the ex-president of Yellow-Black Taxi Association said.
Sanjeev Sardessai clarified that the permit rules for ‘Yellow-Black’ taxis and tourist taxis are different.
“The ‘Yellow-Black’ taxis are carriage vehicles. They can travel from point-to-point or they can take passengers on a sharing basis, which the tourist taxis can’t do. They have a stand, which is specified. The tourist taxis are not supposed to have a stand. This system was not started as a tourist taxi vehicle service, but as a source of employment for those people who wanted work. There was an option for the tourist taxis in which they were allowed to upgrade,” Sardessai said.
But somewhere down the line, this concept of employment generation went haywire.
“Today when we look at the system, our rules are the best. But its implementation is not proper. The operators have signed and accepted all the terms and conditions, no one forced them to sign on the documents. There were 19 conditions earlier, now there are 21. They have violated the very first condition to such an extent that the administration has the option to cancel the licenses. But that is not being enforced. So, if someone has to learn the lesson the hard way,” he said.
When asked about the specific violation done by the tourist taxi operators, he said that the first rule says that the tourist has the option to select any type of transportation, not the taxi operator.
“In contrast to this rule, in the 90s, these taxi operators in the South used to threaten the hotel industry, saying that on Monday, Wednesday and Friday they should hire services of tourist taxis. In the Motor Vehicles Act, the rules for obtaining tourist taxi permits are given. Laws are very clear. The Road Transport Officer (RTO) is the licensing authority. But they remain a silent spectator to all the violations of rules, just in the MPT cruise liner fiasco,” Sardessai said.
He said that Goa’s RTO is extremely ineffective in enforcing the penalty for violation of rules. It was the duty of the RTO to inquire into the whole MPT issue and should have suspended the licenses of those taxi operators, who created the ruckus there.
He also expressed his dismay at reports on police stating that the cruise operator should have taken the taxi drivers into confidence.
“Why should the cruise operators take the taxi people into confidence? It is their business he caters to his clients. He is not supposed to go around telling everyone that he is transporting tourists. Now they have come up with the counter system. If this system would have been there earlier, then this problem wouldn’t have happened,” he said.
When a charter or a cruise arrives, people pre-book their excursions. When does the choice between a bus and a taxi arise? Does the tourist decide whether he would go in a taxi or a bus?
Explaining the procedure, Orlando Nunes said that one of the staff members from the company head office goes to Europe or to the US, where the main cruise offices are. They are given an itinerary of ‘Promote India’, not just Goa.
“Then we invite them. We take them around to all the major tourist destinations. Delhi-Agra is the overland tour destination. Porbandar is the first port, followed by Mumbai, Goa, New Mangalore (added recently), Cochin and sometimes the Andamans. The entire scouting tour is arranged free of cost. Then they go back and say that India has the potential. Then they put up the itinerary,” Nunes said.
When a person goes on the cruise, it is either paid for, or they can choose. Basically, if a cruise capacity is of 1,000 people, 75 per cent would normally go on organised tours and 25 per cent stay back. Based on that, one year prior they inform us about the number of coaches to be pre-booked.
“All this is pre-planned. As the tour days approach, we get the final trimmed down list of how many passengers would finally go for the guided tour. But we have to start the preparations by blocking coaches, guides, and venues for lunch, hotels for beach tours or plantations or even visits to waterfalls. Now, the taxi operators feel that we bring the buses, park them, people get into the buses and proceed. That’s not how things happen. It is an organised process,” he said.
He added that if the ship asks for 30 buses, the tour operator can’t say that Goa has only 10 buses available. The cruise will not call. They will go to Kochi, which is waiting to take the entire Goa’s business. That’s how it works.
When asked whether there are queries for taxis as well, Nunes said that a lot of people do ask for tourist taxis.
“But the taxi union is never organised. We have asked for printed fare rates, but they never give us. Not just the tourists, but even the crew go out. In a 1,000-passenger capacity cruise liner, there are almost 500 crew members. They take taxis as they don’t go with the clients. They don’t have a rate. When they walk out of the gates, the taxi drivers stationed there start yelling different rates. Which shows they themselves are not organised,” he said.
He added that Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar had promised that printed rates would be available by November 16, 2022. But nothing has been provided till date.
If this solution is not reached in a particular timeframe, how serious is the possibility of tourists giving up on Goa as a travel destination because of this taxi impasse?
Lyndon Alves said that it is not a question of tourists giving up Goa as a destination as it is known that the transportation system in Goa isn’t there.
“I go to various parts of the world. There are places where there are taxi issues, there aren’t app-based taxis like Ola and Uber. But they have a system in place. Here you have a divide and rule situation here. There is a division between the ‘Yellow-Black’ taxis and the tourist taxis. You have problems between tourist taxis of North and South Goa. There are problems between them from Cavelossim to Majorda. The entire system is rotten. We want everyone to benefit and be happy. But this indecisiveness has created a mess,” he said.
The fight for digital meters has been going on for a very long time. Several court cases were filed. The TTAG went to the court. The court passed an order which made it absolutely mandatory to install digital meters. But even after the court order, installation of digital meters on Goa’s taxis is being stalled at every step. It went to an extent where the government said that the manufacturers weren’t ready and it did not have the digital meters. Whereas, the manufacturer denied the government statement.
It is evident that a problem is being created by the system to stall fixing of these meters. There were also a lot of arguments on rates. The taxi lobby insisted upon fixing of rates. The government also was in favour of discussion in this matter. But there could not be any unanimity on the rates even after months of deliberations. The High Court even threatened contempt of court and made it mandatory for the taxi operators to install the meters. Now many of the taxis have installed meters, but it is akin to putting up a fancy telephone without the telephone line.
The ‘Yellow-Black’ taxis have a system in place, there are fixed rates for defined destinations. But that is not the case with tourist taxis, who charge random fares. The digital meters act as a check against charging arbitrary fare, which is not happening right now.
Speaking on the issue of digital meters, Sanjeev Sardessai said that people would rather fix a particular rate than trust the meter.
“To my knowledge, the rate per kilometre is the highest in Goa. Today when you go to Mumbai, for 8 hours of travel, I was charged Rs 3,500. I have friends who came from Mumbai to Goa and paid Rs 3,500 on airfare and had to pay Rs 5,000 from the airport to Calangute for a total distance of around 50 Km. This is ridiculous,” Sardessai said.
He further said that today there are meters, but that is just for formality as the rate is already fixed. The taxi driver brings down the meter only when he sees a policeman. This is complete mockery of the system.
“When it comes to the meters, if there is a sincere use and the price is less, I would rather keep my vehicle at home and hire a taxi. As far as the rates of tourist taxis are concerned, we have a law which states that you travel from anywhere, wherever you are dropped, you have to pay half return fare from the point of origin. But there is a loophole here. Suppose they have picked up a passenger from Mopa and dropped him or her at Mapusa and the taxi driver has to go back to Mopa, he will be paid for only 8 km. But if he has travelled 100 Km earlier, the driver takes half return fare of that distance. People are being cheated either way,” he said.
When it comes to taking assistance from the police, one gets only a utopian solution from them, Sardessai said, adding, trust of people in fixing the fare is much more than believing the meters.
There is a feeling amongst the people that the tourist taxi owners are obstructing good tourism. Because of them, the rates being paid by tourists are much more than what is charged in other States. Also, even after persistent efforts to regulate the taxi sector by installing digital meters, there has been reluctance in even following the HC order on digital meters. The taxi association has also resisted having app-based taxis in Goa.
Responding to these perceptions, Tulsidas Phadte, Secretary, Association of Tourist Taxi Owners, Goa said that every time the TTAG blames taxi operators for resisting reforms in their sector.
“I had met the CM also and requested him to listen to our version also and not just the TTAG, because the travel agents don’t have their own vehicle. Customers allege that we are overcharging, which is incorrect. We are charging the fare as per the rates notified by the government. Now, TTAG filed a petition demanding meters for taxis in 2005, when the Association was not even registered. The hoteliers cooked up a story to finish the tourist taxis,” Phadte alleged.
On the issue of resisting installation of digital meters, he said that the Motor Vehicles Act does not make it compulsory for tourist taxis to install meters for getting the permit. The ‘Yellow-Black’ taxis already have the meters. There is no need for another taxi group to have the same.
“TTAG is forcing the government through the High Court to install meters. We too have filed a petition on this issue, but the matter hasn’t yet come up for hearing. Regarding cab aggregators, I would say that we are not a metropolitan city. We have only 16 lakh population. Out of these, only 60,000 people come out of their homes to work. This is a very miniscule population. Installing meters or having cab aggregators for such a small population will finish us,” Phadte said.
When asked about the massive tourist population that arrives in Goa and feels the necessity of having regulated fares and app-based taxis, the Secretary of the Association of Tourist Taxi Owners said that in Goa all the hotels are in the villages.
“The taxis deployed at these hotels act as a major employment generator for the unemployed youth in absence of large industries in Goa. Also, many commuters themselves don’t want to travel by meter because they find the fare costlier than the fixed charge, especially in case of long-distance travel,” Phadte said.
Phadte also discouraged his fellow taxi-men against unruly behaviour with tourists.
“We have to send out a positive message to our visitors so that the tourism industry grows further. At the same time, I want to warn tours and travel agencies to not say anything to the tourists which goes against we taxi owners,” he said.
It is pretty clear that Goa needs to set its public transport sector right if it expects to attract quality tourists. For this to happen, the State government has to set the house in order and make all players, especially the tourist taxi operators, get their act together.