Call Taxis calling the shots in Chennai

By Akila Dinakar

CHENNAI, AUG. 23. Call Taxi services are doing a roaring business in Chennai, operating

with a taxi cab permit with fixed meter rates, giving the autorickshaw and tourist taxi sectors a run for their money.

While three main services, Bharati, Chennai and Fast Track Call Taxis are functioning with around 100 vehicles each, several more groups are planning to enter this transport segment which is increasingly becoming popular, positioned as it is between the autorickshaws and the tourist taxis.

Customers are preferring this system to the tourist taxis for the fast service and ease of hiring that if offers. The convenience of having to just call a specific telephone number, which is also painted on the car, and an electronic meter service makes them attractive. The customer's address is recorded and the office screens the list of vacant vehicles on the computer. The message is sent to the driver nearest the customer's residence or boarding point to ensure that the vehicle reaches there in five minutes of the booking.

A director of Chennai Call Taxi which operates with Ambassador cars, Mr. B. Rajendran says that his company operates 108 vehicles, charging a minimum of Rs. 30 for three kms and Rs. 8 for every additional kilometre. Most of the calls come from South Madras for taking passengers towards the airport and the Central railway station.

An association of Call Taxi drivers has written to the Transport Commissioner seeking to provide Call Taxi permit for the vehicles. The system is operating successfully in Bangalore and other three metros, he says. Customers prefer call taxis as tourist taxis collect on a per day basis, or for a minimum of five hours.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has written to the Transport Department regarding the use of LPG cylinders by some call taxi drivers.

Though the taxi operators claimed that the vehicles were running on diesel and petrol, one official said, ``on record it is petrol, off record it is LPG''. With LPG remaining more economical, it was one reason why the call taxis were able to offer lower fares for customers, an operator said.

With the Government not having approved the use of LPG cylinders in the present form, customers wonder whether the call taxis conform to safety standards for public service vehicles.

Now that call taxis have come to stay, taxi cab and autorickshaw drivers feel they are fast getting driven out of the market.

One cab operator said that the call taxis have literally taken over their contracts for airport and Central Station and several drivers were quitting their job as they were not getting enough trips to operate.

The Goodwill Auto Drivers Union said it had appealed to the Government seeking its intervention to regulate the call taxis, ``operating without proper permit'' as it was greatly affecting their autorickshaw business.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Private water tankers add to risk
Next     : Maya's Supermodel