The decision of the prepaid taxi facility was taken in the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Transport Authority (MMRTA) meeting held on Thursday at Mantralaya.
Like the airport passengers, the railway commuters arriving in the city will now avail the prepaid taxi facility at five major stations. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Mumbai Central, Dadar, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus and Bandra Terminus will have prepaid taxi facility soon. However, taxi unions have strongly opposed the decision and demanded formation of a a committee before the implementation.
The decision of the prepaid taxi facility was taken in the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Transport Authority (MMRTA) meeting held on Thursday at Mantralaya.
The MMRTA took the complaints of excessive charges and fast running meters into consideration before introducing the prepaid system. “This will be of great convenience to people who come into the city for the first time. This would be a safer mode of transport too, as all the details of the drivers and the vehicles will be with the government authorities. Immediate action against errant drivers would be possible in case of complaints from the passengers,” said Shailesh Kumar Sharma, principal secretary, Transport.
He said that the RTO, Traffic police and railways will now decide on the appropriate places to set up the prepaid taxi stands. “Soon after nitty gritty is finalised and the mechanism is set up, we will start the services at five terminuses. The decision about whether to ply air conditioned taxis will be taken at a later stage. Our experience of prepaid taxis at the airport will help us in implementing one at the railway stations,” he added.
AL Quadros, general secretary of Mumbai Taximen Union, has opposed the proposal. “We are not against prepaid taxis, but passengers should continue to get postpaid taxi service. The prepaid services are nearly 25% higher than the postpaid. Secondly, there was no need of introducing the prepaid taxis as the existing system is offering satisfactory services. Complaints against the taxis are the media-created myth and there are hardly any complaints against the taxis,” he said.
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