Too many players for a level playing field?

Even as taxi drivers squabble over passengers and wait days ‘in queue’ for their turn to take up fares from hotels they are attached to, the general industry consensus is that with too many taxis for a state the size of Goa, drivers aren’t getting enough work, and the exorbitant fares they demand reflect their need to make a living.
From the customer viewpoint however, the market is tilted heavily in favour of the supplier, leaving passengers feeling trapped and cheated.
“It’s lean pickings for us, especially in the niche tourist areas of Quepem, Canacona and Pernem. There are few fares left for us with most tourists choosing pre-booked travel agency cars, and a driver considers himself lucky if he gets one fare a day. Frequent fights break out for fares. It’s ironic that most of us were earning much more per day 10 years ago than we are earning now when the tourist inflow to Goa has been increasing,” laments Hubert Rodrigues a South Goa taxi owner.
So why hasn’t the government stepped in to control the number of taxi permits being issued, ask stakeholders. “For the past 10 years, we have been pushing for a moratorium on the issue of new taxi licenses to independent taxi owners, in order to give the existing ones more business. Still, over a thousand new permits are issued every year, with subsidies to boot. By increasing competition, the government has not been able to bring the fares down, but in contrast, is prompting unethical practices,” says Ralph de Sousa, spokesperson, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG).
“Given the scenario of the huge supply-demand gap, we do not understand why more and more Goan youth want to buy cars and get into the taxi business. I don’t believe it’s just unemployment, the taxi trade is wrongly promoted as a means of ‘easy money’ while getting to be self-employed,” he adds.
Transport director Arun Desai claims the taxi associations have not yet approached the department for a halt in issue of taxi permits. “We have instead placed a moratorium on issue of licenses for rent-a-bike and rent-a-car services until April 2015, after taxi operators insisted that their business was getting affected. Also, we found there were too many self-driven vehicles on hire, and these people were finding it difficult to get by during the off-season,” he says.
Curtailing self-driven rental vehicles will not solve the taxi problem, counters de Sousa. “The mark of a good tourist destination is one that caters to its customers’ needs, and tourists who visit Goa are often keen on exploring the state on a rented motorbike. We have families that visit Goa two or three times a year, young working professionals and urban couples who make quick weekend getaways to Goa, and they prefer the freedom and privacy of renting a vehicle to taking a taxi and being bogged down by the many issues plaguing the trade,” he remarks.
A revamp of the trade using technology is the only solution to ensure equal opportunities for all players in the tourist transport trade, feels Nikhil Desai, director, Goa Tourism Development Corporation. “There is enough business for everybody in Goa; but the way of functioning should be changed by using technology to organize these sectors and spread services strategically across the state, depending on demand,” he explains.
“There are two success stories tourist taxi drivers can learn a lot from—the taxi situation at the airport used to be a mess with frequent delays and fights. Ever since we made it a single-window system with uniform fares, their business has tripled. Another example is the standardizing of services for cruise tours at Panaji’s Santa Monica jetty, where bringing all players under a single window has helped them boost business and function smoothly,” says the GTDC director.
Send your feedback and suggestions on the issue to taxitrapsgoa@gmail.com
Readers weigh in
RTO enforcement lax in Goa
Mumbai does not have taxi problems like Goa as the RTO enforcement is strict except in a few pockets like airports and railway stations, otherwise taxis ply on meter. Comparatively in Goa, the meter system does not exist because of lack of implementation by RTO. Also, taxis and rickshaws have to belong to and pick up passengers from prescribed stands, unlike Mumbai, which is a cost increasing factor for all.
Firdaush Postwala
Government should stop playing vote-bank politics
Thanks to TOI for highlighting this problem. It’s time we stand against this nuisance and high-handedness of local taxi operators. The government needs to acknowledge the problems faced by locals and tourists in need of private/hired transport, and not just get bullied into playing vote-bank politics by taxi operators. It is appalling that the government agreed to hike the rates of taxi rides to an extent where the rates are incomparably high when compared to other states. Despite these ridiculous rates, drivers bully their customers into paying even higher amounts. The time has come for the government to look beyond pleasing taxi operators for votes, and see how this trend is damaging tourism. It also has to acknowledge the fact that if public transport in the state was efficient, people would not have to depend on taxis. If taxi drivers weren’t as short sighted as to maintain such steep rates, perhaps more people would choose to travel in taxis.
Brian Pacheco