[sustran] Taxi operations in Mumbai (and elsewhere)

[eric.britton at ecoplan.org]

Friday, June 11, 2004, Paris, France, Europe

As our long time colleagues Brendan Finn and Bina Balakrishnan point out
in the pair of attached emails to the Sustran group, a most interesting
dialogue on taxi operations and innovation is opening up there which has
application in most parts of the world.  While the immediate focus of
the discussions is the present situation in Mumbai, the issues are ones
that face just about all of us.

Fortunately if you want to catch up on these exchanges, all you have to
do is go to the New Mobility Agenda at http://newmobility.org and click
the Discussion Groups, and there at the very top the email library of
The Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia & the Pacific is right
at the top of the pile.

Recommended.

Eric Britton


======================

-----Original Message-----
 Behalf Of Brendan Finn
Sent: Monday, June 07, 2004 10:55 AM
To: Bina C. Balakrishnan; Asia and the Pacific sustainable transport
Subject: [sustran] Re: Taxi operations in Mumbai

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
> >
>
>