They can rightly claim to drive tourism. They literally keep it moving. But they have become the whipping boys of the tourism industry. They are the registered taxi owners who together own and run almost 6000 taxis throughout the state.
They are currently in a fresh round of battle with the government, they claim they brought back to power, with the rent a car owners who are actually running an illegal business and are battling for “regularisation’.
Now any argument, debate or even mature discussion around taxi drivers evokes angry images and retorts from a section of the tourism industry. Past incidents of harassment and occasional violence, coupled with issues regarding overcharging; have dominated every narrative on this, and has shaped the discourse. But let’s for the moment debate the issue at hand. The rent a car private operators, who offer their private vehicles on a self drive basis are neither registered nor regulated. They do not have fixed rates and charge customers who drive vehicles not meant for commercial use and hence do not pay the required commercial fees. They are neither homeless nor jobless, considering the amounts they have or can raise to buy fancy cars. And for good measure, many of them are from outside Goa, though no one who is doing legitimate business can be kept out. In this case, their businesses are not legit.
The other issue which is at hand, is should they be made legit and regularised? The answer to this lies in this question. Will their “regularisation” harm the business interests of local Goan taxi drivers? If that is the case, the question that also must be asked is whether the Goan taxi drivers themselves or any other agency can fulfill the demand for high end self driven private vehicles which are available in any modern tourism intensive city in the world? If the answer to this is no, then the debate needs to be opened up.
In any economy, the need of the tourist has to be balanced with the needs of local service providers, but market forces will always dictate that the paying customer should be offered what he is paying for and wants. However what the government should do is give the right of first refusal to local taxi owners or local Goan taxi companies to have high end new self driven cars. If they do not take up the offer to provide this, then other companies including international car rental services can be invited.
Moving on, the sons of the soil should agree to regulation and control. They must allow GPRS tracking and digital metres in their cabs, but with the condition that the government must extensively engage with them to mutually decide on rates for routes that need to be programmed into the meter. While they have agreed to do so, they still appear to be hesitant. The solution lies in getting them to compare and appreciate rates for the same distances in other metros and tourist destinations. This has to be balanced with the density of population and the fact that in Goa, it is much more difficult to get customers from many far flung areas, especially late at night, thereby affecting business. Thus the rate calculation has to be perhaps a little more than other cities because of Goa’s unique conditions but nowhere near as exorbitant as now.
Secondly, taxi owners must agree not to resort to violence, harassment or troubling of customers. But there too there is a twist. They claim that owners who are outside the official association ambit indulge in violence while traditional local taxi owners get the blame.
Above all, let us appreciate that they are sons of the soil who earn their living by driving. They are important stake holders and must be taken into confidence and won over. Departments like transport have to work with them and the Tourism department has to engage them. The taxi drivers of Goa can’t be wished away or treated like pariahs. They will continue to play crucial roles in the service of tourism. Thus a way has to be found to work with them through an organised process where Goa benefits as much as they do. And that can happen only when tourists have a happy travelling experience through Goa and become the best ambassadors of Goa’s tourism.
