BY A STAFF REPORTER

Old taxis have competition from the contemprary cool cabs but wow to survive the battle

Nothing can shake the spirit of Mumbai, so the city black and yellow taxi's spirit. Be it the Cool Cab or Forshe women's special taxi or the new generation taxi, none of these can affect the ordinary taxi. The white and blue cool cabs came but hardly did it affect the ordinary taxis. The black and yellow normal taxis came and we thought the black and yellow is put on the high challenging phase with Forshe women special taxis and the Meru new generation taxis plying on the city roads. The taximen say old is gold and any new taxis cannot affect the old. However, passengers gave the mixed reaction while comparing the old services and additional services in the city.
The changes the mode of transport and its success depends on the passengers. This time, few passengers are little confused as they are not able to choice the better. One of them is a regular taxi commuter, Sneha More said, "I have tried all the four varieties of taxi but it is difficult to choose the one because each one is best in one or the other way. So it is better to use the services rather getting confused in choosing which is better."
While another passenger, Sweety D'mello liked the all but feels that black and yellow taxis are the best in any case, "The new styles are acceptable when we have time and money but the black and yellow taxi are the one's that helps us when we are really rushing and when we are not prepared for expensive travel," she said.
Moreover, another passenger Smitesh Patel is all for new generation taxi - Meru. "Meru is best at present. Government should encourage this type of taxis and provide better service. There is not much difference the fare list. By paying little more if I am getting an opportunity to travel in the air-conditioner cab in this hot season then why wouldn't I prefer it? This is a nice opportunity to move forward with new technology. I think our society should accept the change."
Walking with new technology is in the priority list for few Mumbaikars. Rajesh Tiwari is one amongst them. This regular traveller wants the city to progress in each aspect, "I have no idea why the Meru should be ignored. It will upgrade the class of travelling in the city. We should learn change our standard with times."

Having plying for 22 years now, Abdul Kadar Sheikh is proud to be a taxi driver of the old black and yellow. His rough and tough taxi hardly creates any problems and hardly does it need much attention. "No new taxi can beat our black and yellow. They are anytime better in any aspect. We don't care if any passenger is loading the taxi with their heavy bags because we know nothing will happen to our rough and tough Fiat can manage it all," he said. Monthly expenditure on each taxi is Rs.1000, "If at all any taxi part is not functioning, we can replace it by the duplicate parts. But the new taxis cannot adjust such situations," Sheikh added.

Many tanga men were presented taxi-driving licenses. "When the small taxis were introduced the tanga men were facing too many problems to serve the city, parking problems and government also was worried about the roads which were damaged by the tanga wheels so the tanga men were given taxi driving licenses. The payable amount was 35 paise when it started its service in the city," said A L Quadros, president of Taximen's Union.
There are over 53,000 taxis serving the city. General Secretary, Taximen's Union. Quadros feels that the new taxis are not affecting the normal taxi's income but there are chances of them affecting the 4000 cool cabs. He further said, "There is no problem as of now as these Meru taxis are less in number. But in future they might affect. Yet having experience of city's passenger type, I think we would still be on demand. The new taxis are available on the prior booking or rarely on the roads. Most of our passengers are not regular travellers so they find it costly. They hire only in case of emergency or when highly necessary." Quadros then informed that there are hardly any chance of these taxis increase in numbers as it needs high cost to be paid for the permit. "About Rs.1 lakh 27,000 has to be paid for the permit to run these taxis so not many drivers will be attracted for these taxis. Moreover, we are soon planning to replace 500 old Fiat taxis to Maruti Esteem," Quadros added.

The Cool Cabs are air-conditioned and painted white-blue Indica costs around 25 percent more, but may be preferable, particsularly in the day time, to avoid vehicular pollution.
Taxi service for women and by women taxi drivers were introduced to the city roads. These taxis were introduced aiming to the security to the women with several other girlish facilities inside the taxi. These are not affordable to normal working class women though they are found convenient for the women working with BPO, the sad part is the Forshe don't ply in the night that loses the chance to serve the BPO customers.  The costs Rs.2,500 for half-a-day and Rs.4,000 for the entire day ride.
 

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