[sustran] Re: Taxi operation

[Kisan Mehta]

Dear Colleagues and Shamsul.

Sorry, Shamsul, for the delay in reply.   Thanks for your query.  I am
recording my
reply in (   ....) after each of the question hereunder.   Issues raised by
you are
important for human settlements hence would  appreciate discussion. Best
wishes

Kisan Mehta
Save Bombay Committee
520 Jame Jamshed Road, Dadar East,
Mumbai 400014 India
Tel: 00 91 22 2414 9688

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shamsul A M A Hoque" <shoque at smtrans.co.uk>
Subject: [sustran] Taxi operation


> Dear Kisan
>
 I did not understand why did you mention this-
>
 "It is clear that concentration of ownership in fewer hands that is
creating
> corporate giants would not help commuters. Any attempt in that direction
would create social and ethical turmoil."

(At present taxi service like riksha facility  is provided mainly by owner
drivers or
sometimes by drivers hiring on a long term basis from a small owner having,
may
be, 5 taxies.   Services provided are relatively not bad.  Critical aspect
is there are many
more taxies and many many more rikshas all trying to grab limited business
available in
the congested Mumbai where jampacked suburban trains and crawling
municipalised public buses  account for 88% journeys while taxies and
personal cars vie for the
balance 12%.   Mumbai suffers from severe traffic and movement problem
created essentially parked vehicles and encroachments.
(To take over the taxi trade from small informal drivers sustaining at or
around `below
poverty level' the community will have to have giant-real giant-
corporations with
capital requirements running into astronomical figues to be manned by an
army of
high cost executives and drivers/technicians/mechanics to ensure even the
existing
quality service.  Costs will of course be vey high so much so taxi charges
will have
to be increased tremendously.   Taxi users will shift to public transport
increasing suffocating crowding, rikshas or  walking facing accident hazard.

(Unemployment will increase because the taxi drivers/owners will lose hteir
job.
They may not all want to be employees of giant corporaions.  Quality of taxi
service
will deterioate terribly as it would become impersonal.   Social, cultural
problems
will come up. Corporations normally impovish the people at the lowest level
concentrating the wealth in the few rich at the top.)

> My second concern is: why you did not mentioned about the parking charges
for taxi? Instead you have recommend to raise their fare level to keep their
vehicle in good order. If taxi-drivers are allowed to pay the parking charge
for a particular taxi-waiting stand then they would be forced to stay there
unless there is a call from passenger. Without any passenger no taxi would
be allowed to roam around on the road, this would creat some frustration
among the passengers who does not have any easy access to a phone. But
passengers would get used to the situation soon and they would know how far
they have to walk to get a taxi stand.
(We have noticed that taxi drivers pay some fee for keeping car in the
designated
call centres to the centre manager.   Binding taxi drivers to one centre is
not practical  because of long origin-destination distances. He may not be
able to return to his
centre for days together because of many directions and long distances. If
rhe
community wants better vehicles and responsive service, it is natural to
increase
taxi and riksha fares. To-day they are at marginal level.  Even when enough
taxi/riksha centres are set up, many taxies/rikshas would be roaming for
instant hiring. )

 At present, isn't there any taxi operators'/owners' association present
there in Mumbai? I believe there are some in Mumbai, as in the case for
Dhaka. There would a mechanism which would be acceptable to all the present
operators/owners. If the drivers see they would be benefited by making fewer
bigger size companies, than what there are now "One owner one taxi", then
 there would not be any big issue.
(There are trade and labour unions in the transport area.  I doubt whether
any
owner would surrender his right to own a vehicle that sustains him for
being
an employee or coowner of one or more vehicles.    In any case concentration
of
modes of transport cannot ensure better quality except in case of public
road
or rail transport serving the entire human settlement.  For instance,
Mumbai's
municipalised BEST bus service servies the entire city providing 4.6 million
journeys, probably the highest for any road transport in the world.)

    -------------------------


> Thank you.
>
> SAM Aminul Hoque
>
> >
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2004 11:51:48 +0530
> From: "Kisan Mehta" <kisansbc at vsnl.com>
> Subject: [sustran] Re: Taxi operations in Mumbai
> To: "NewMobilityCafe" <NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com>, "Asia and the
> Pacific sustainable transport" <sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
> Cc: sustran discuss <sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org>
>
> Dear Colleagues and Bina,
>
 It is good to learn that somebody and especially Bina, a Mumbai resident is
> looking into the possibility of improving/upgrading the quality of taxi
> service in
> Mumbai.
> ..........
> ..........
> In this situation the following may be implemented.
>
 # Augmenting and imrpoving public transport and creating dependable
taxi/riksha change over possibility for weaning  away commuters from private
> vehicles
> # Creating widespread calling taxi/autoriksha by telephone facility
> #Designating specific plots  of lands for taxi/riksha parking till ordered
> on telephone
> # Insisting on taxies and rikshas to install `for hire' illuminated lights
> on top
> # Raising fare structure  to allow taxi/riksha owners to keep their
vehicles
> in good shape.
> # Removing all hurdles on movement of taxies/rikshas throughtout the
> commuting areas of Mumbai and more particularly Mumbai Metropolitan Region
> #Placing restrictions on car use and ownership to reduce congestion and
> pollution.
>
> It is clear that concentration of ownership in fewer hands that is
creating
> corporate giants would not help commuters. Any attempt in that direction
> would create social and ethical turmoil.
>
> However much we may dislike, existence and widespread  of rikshas and two
> wheeler motor cycles cannot be wished away in the poor countries. Best
> wishes.
>
> Kisan Mehta
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Brendan Finn" <etts at indigo.ie>
> To: "Bina C. Balakrishnan" <binac at rediffmail.com>; "Asia and the Pacific
> sustainable transport" <sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
> Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 10:29 PM
> Subject: [sustran] Re: Taxi operations in Mumbai
>
>
> > Dear Bina,
> >
> > I guess Singapore's main cab companies (Comfort, CityCab, TIBS) might
> offer > a working model. While the cost base is likely to be different due
> to the
> > wage rates and perhaps also insurance and licence factors, it's still
> worth > looking at. They're certainly large enough to gain economies of
> scale and good purchasing power.
> >
> > An alternative model could be a leasing-with-maintenance arrangement by
> the vehicle suppliers. This certainly can work in the bus sector.
> >
> > Whatever you opt for, you are looking to replace old vehicles with new
in
> a low-wage, low-tariff situation. Financially, this is not going to fit
easily. Even allowing for fuel efficiencies and other cost savings, tariffs
> > are going to have to rise to pay for the new investment.
> >
> > I wish you good luck in your option development and implementation.
> >
> >
> > Brendan Finn.
> > _______________________________________________________________________
> >> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Bina C. Balakrishnan" <binac at rediffmail.com>
> > To: <sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
> > Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 4:21 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
>