The Minister for Transport and PWD Mr Sudin Dhavalikar does have the penchant from breaking the stillness and the quiet with one statement of acute disruption. At a time when he is attempting to do the impossible – install digital meters on Goa’s taxis, he made a statement saying that Uber and Ola app cabs would not be allowed in Goa, “since they are loss making companies”.
Now, of all the reasons bandied so far to stop these radio cabs, with Ola actually threatened not to set foot here, the minister’s reason must surely go down as the most ingenuous.
We are therefore dealing with two separate issues here – of the efficacy of digital meters and the presence of app based radio taxis. The need to have digital meters on Goa’s taxis is a no-brainer.
Rarely, if at all, will there be a state government which has issued a notification in 2015, in a response to a judicial order that taxis must install digital meters and has still not managed to implement its own notification. The reason is not far to seek. The world of taxi owners is allergic to any form of control. A digital meter takes away the control of charging absolutely logic defying fares for a taxi ride and making them slaves of a meter. While the minister has refused to negotiate any further and cracked the whip on their installation now, there are a few questions that need answers. Have the charges per kilometre been fixed and frozen? Have these charges been read out and informed to all the taxi associations? Have customers, especially tourists been sensitised to what are their remedies if a taxi driver refuses to use his digital meter and charges him only on that basis? Are there enough meters to cover all licensed taxis?
While there is a dearth of clarity on all of the above, there appears to be a thinking that installing digital meters is a substitute to having app-based taxis. In reality there is absolutely no connection. While installing digital meters ensure fair pricing and a just fare system, app-based taxis ensure ease of availability at our doorstep and ease of digital payments. While Ola and Ubder have made their presence in metros and small towns, their names obviously crop up at every discussion. We can at least say for certain that both app majors are not exactly knocking on the doors of government wanting to come in. They are conscious and cautious of the space they get into and will not risk their business by getting into an extremely volatile Goan environment.
However, their refusal to come will lead to brand Goa, from the tourism perspective take a hit if it hasn’t already. Ultimately, tourism works on the demand and supply principle. If the tussle and humiliation, not to speak of a financial hit a tourist gets due to crazy taxi fares continues, this might just be the reason for tourists staying away. The situation is so volatile that even bringing your own car from Bangalore and Mumbai isn’t quite safe, with taxi drivers forcing visitors to park their own cars in hotels and hire cabs.
Goa’s taxi drivers, sons of the soil, must get together and help set up a local app-based taxi service which can work like a cooperative. They must all join this and be asked to put an end to the tyranny of this unregulated taxi business.
