Soon, AC travel in black-and-yellow cabs for extra charge

State govt has decided to lend the “two-in-one” taxi model a push to counter overcharging by Cool cabs.

Mumbai | January 6, 2015 01:25 AM IST

2 min read

Hitching a “cool” ride in the conventional black-and-yellow cabs in Mumbai might soon become your cheaper alternative to hiring a Cool Cab. The state government has decided to lend the “two-in-one” taxi model a push to counter complaints of overcharging by Cool cabs.

Transport Minister Diwakar Raote said, “We have decided to allow black-and-yellow taxis to offer AC comfort to passengers on demand. The charges, in this case, would be less than those of Cool cabs.”Although the idea of a two-in-one taxi was first taken up during the previous Congress-NCP regime, it failed to take off. Currently, only 14,000 cabs offer air-conditioned commute on optional basis, according to data available with taxi union.

The new government is confident it can make idea work. “If the ordinary taxis are allowed to charge extra to a commuter who opts for the AC service, they would opt for it. The ministry will hold a meeting with Union leaders to discuss the reform,” Raote said.

There are also plans to make taxi travel a more secure. “We are working on modalities for making it mandatory for all cabs to install smart meters containing radio frequency tags. This would allow monitoring of the cab’s movement from a centralised location. This way, digital pictures of the cab driver and the commuter would also become available,” Raote said, adding that his ministry was almost ready with a plan in this regard.

Taking cue from the horrific Delhi rape incident involving an Uber car driver last month, Raote said the government had decided to make character verification of drivers mandatory.”We are in the final stages of evolving a set of guidelines for web-based cab services,” he added.

Taking a swipe at the previous regime, Raote claimed to have received an internal inquiry report, which points to a massive corruption in 40,000 taxi permits issued just before elections. “Several ineligible persons were issued permits,” Raote said. “I have sought a detailed inquiry in the matter. All those responsible will be punished,” he said.

“Even those with multiple businesses were issued taxi permits,” Raote said. As per norms, a taxi permit holder can hold no other source of income.

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Diwakar Raote