[sustran] Re: Taxi operations in Mumbai

[Bina C. Balakrishnan]

 Dear Brendan,

The will is unfortunately with a minority currently. There are a few bureaucrats who are very convinced of the feasibility of the recommendations, but the opposition is from the implementing arm of the Govt. And our argument for the parking approach has been exactly that- low cost, immediate returns, AND revenue generation, to a cash strapped Corporation. There is also resistance from the store owners, but this resistance is also to the implementation of one-way systems, as they are afraid that their sales will drop. And therefore Mumbai is currently on a spree of capital intensive solutions like elevated roadways and flyovers. 

We have a large segment of taxi- users who share a cab at least at one end of their work trips every day. During morning and evening peak hours, there are designated “Shared Taxi” stands at the suburban railway stations, and the cab moves as soon as 4 passengers are seated. We are thinking of using a slightly larger seating capacity vehicle for this segment. There are also a large number of private taxi operators (also called tourist taxis) – not the regular yellow cabs that you can hail on the street – all of whose drivers are supplied with mobile phones. Cell phone usage in Mumbai is very high, with even the roadside vegetable vendor and children all carrying one. New Delhi has a system whereby the visitor to the city is sms’d the phone number of the taxi service along with the welcome msg - and yes, we should look into this for Mumbai too.

The level of service currently provided by the taxi in Mumbai is very poor, and definitely does not justify its disruptive presence in the traffic stream. There is a perceived demand for better service at various levels of comfort in this sector, and that is why we are looking into this. And as you have said- a large number of non- work, short trips that could have been made by taxi are using personal modes because of this very reason.

I would really appreciate your inputs, Brendan, and the references, as offered - both for the parking and the taxi case studies.Thank you.
With best regards,

Bina

Bina C. Balakrishnan
Consultant
Transportation Planning and Engineering,
Mumbai, India
e-mail: binac at rediffmail.com
 


On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 Brendan Finn wrote :
>Dear Bina,
>
>This has become an interesting strand, because we can now see that there are
>many actions being considered in parallel. Single dimension solutions are
>rarely successful in solving complex problems, so the news from Mumbai is
>quite encouraging.
>
>Two small suggestions about the content of your mail :
>
>a) Your suggested approach of using parking as a travel demand management
>tool is very appropriate, provided there is the will to enforce it. This was
>used quite effectively in Dublin during the 1980's when there was no will to
>use any other measures. Of course, it is low-cost, low-investment and very
>simple, although it attracts direct opposition from car owners. I think the
>critical success factor is to get traders to accept that no parking and
>controlled deliveries is much better for their business (individually and
>for the whole street). The parking aproach has now become more sophisticated
>since there are better trafiic control measures with which to integrate. If
>you wish, I can give you a broad overview from memory, and recommend who to
>talk to in the city for the facts.
>
>b) For the 'dial-a-cab' facility, there are perhaps three options to
>consider. The first is for the individual booking, so perhaps systems like
>Singapore where the cab companies provide a very good booking facility and
>usually you get the cab to your door in 2-5 minutes. The second is shared
>taxi, so here the dispatch centre acts as a broker among people who want
>taxi service, but are willing to share cost and comfort. The third is demand
>responsive minibuses, where the cost should be much lower than taxi, and the
>service much better than regular bus. A lot of work has been done in Europe
>on these options in developing both the operating scenarios and the booking
>and dispatch technologies, although the reailty is that the most suitable
>passenger markets are in Asia. Again, if you are interested, I can give you
>some overviews and put you in touch with information sources. Being
>realistic, these type of services are not for the poor (at least in our
>current generation). However, there is a significant market that has both
>affordability and desire for medium-quality transportation. They can support
>such services, and if they don't have something of acceptable quality, then
>they will acquire personal motorised transport even if it is hard on them
>financially. It would be intersting to know what is the uptake of mobile
>phones in Mumbai, since SMS can be a very effective and cheap tool for
>making bookings and receiving confirmations - once the public has the
>communication device, the main financial barrier is removed.
>
>I will now look at your website to learn more about Bombay First.
>
>With best wishes,
>
>
>Brendan Finn.
>_______________________________________________________________________
>Contact details are : e-mail : etts at indigo.ie   tel : +353.87.2530286
>
>----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bina C. Balakrishnan" <binac at rediffmail.com>
>To: "Puttanna S.Honaganahalli" <psh at isec.ac.in>
>Cc: "Asia and the Pacific sustainable transport"
><sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
>Sent: Monday, June 07, 2004 8:34 AM
>Subject: [sustran] Re: Taxi operations in Mumbai
>
>
>Dear Mr Mehta, Puttanna,
>
>Thank you very much for your inputs.
>At the outset, I have to tell you that we (Bombay First) are primarily
>initiators of change. We do not go into the finer details of design and
>implementation of the project, but identify areas for possible improvement,
>study the broad aspects of the same, and make recommendations to the
>concerned authorities / agencies for detailed study or implementation. Do
>visit our web-site at
>
>http://www.bombayfirst.org
>
>To respond to your comments, we have already considered most of them in the
>study framework.
>
>Yes, one of our objectives is to examine the feasibility of shifting some
>work trips by private cars to taxi trips, but the economics have to be in
>favour of this(!!)
>
>Augmenting public transport has always been a priority, and the BEST are
>going about it in a very systematic way. However, there is also a project
>that has been lying with the Municipal Corporation for almost 2 years, where
>I have recommended the use of parking as a demand management tool in Mumbai.
>The idea is to bring all street side parking under the pay and park scheme,
>banning it altogether on arterial roads, and raising the parking charges
>substantially from the very nominal Rs 5 per hour that it is today. The
>restriction on arterial roads is expected to release kerb-side lanes for
>exclusive bus lanes, and the higher charges and limited availability of
>parking will hopefully induce people to car pool and /or use public
>transport. However, for various reasons, the project is still lying with the
>MCGB.
>
>  Yes, we have included the dial- a- cab facility in this study, and the new
>models of cabs can be designed to have a more prominent display of the
>vehicle for hire flag. As for raising fares - that is the moot point- we
>need to work out some other way of keeping the vehicles in better shape-
>hence the consideration of the operator system. But as Brendan has said,
>since we are looking to replace old vehicles with new in a low wage, low
>tariff situation, the finances will not fit easily. Hence, we are looking
>into subsidies for the new purchases, or some financial arrangement whereby
>the changeover can be made more attractive.
>
>About removing hurdles- I assume you are referring to the restrictions on
>autos plying beyond Bandra? Well, I don't think it would be a good idea for
>them to come further south. I think they are driven very rashly, and their
>high maneuverability make them initiators of accidents, and besides, South
>Mumbai is doing very nicely without them!
>
>Restriction on car ownership? I think I'd best leave that to you, Mr. Mehta!
>
>Best regards,
>Bina
>
>
>
>On Mon, 07 Jun 2004 Puttanna S. Honaganahalli wrote :
> >Hi Bina,
> >"Operator System", in Mumbai. Great. For both, the economy and environment,
> >it is a good thing to happen. Have you carried the political and guild
> >leadership all along? Make sure that your recommendations have a generous
> >package for the individual taxi owners who might get displaced, lest, your
> >recommendations may not be touched by a bean-pole by the powers-to-be in
> >Mumbai.
> >
> >Thanks
> >
> >Puttanna S. Honaganahalli Ph.D.
> >Ecological Economics Unit, Institute for Social and Economics Change (ISEC)
> >Nagarabhavi, Bangalore 560 072
> >India
> >
> >Phone: 91-80-2321-5468 x120
> >Fax: 91-80-2321-7008
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Bina C. Balakrishnan" <binac at rediffmail.com>
> >To: <sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
> >Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 8:51 PM
> >Subject: [sustran] Taxi operations in Mumbai
> >
> >
> > >
> > > Hi everyone,
> > >
> > > We are trying to re-organise the taxi operations in Mumbai, introducing
> >newer, more efficient models of cars, with a choice of levels of comfort,
> >and differentiated tariff structures. Currently, all taxis in Mumbai are
> >either owner- driven, or by a driver hired by the owner of a single or
>small
> >(4-5) fleet of cars. Operational costs in this case seem to be high, and
> >vehicle maintenance suffers. Most of these vehicles are also very old, and
> >in an attempt to improve both the system as well as the environment through
> >the use of newer, better vehicles, we are examining the feasibility of
> >shifting to an "Operator System," where new models of fuel efficient
> >vehicles will be owned by a few large operators, who can then optimize
>their
> >operations.
> > >
> > > I would appreciate any information on the experience of other cities
> >elsewhere in the world, in this area.
> > >
> > > Regards and thanks,
> > > Bina
> > >
> > > Bina C. Balakrishnan
> > > Consultant
> > > Transportation Planning & Engineering
> > > Mumbai, India
> > > e-mail : binac at rediffmail.com
> > >
> >
> >
>