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-   -   Mumbai Taxi's - Part of our landscape! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/4947-mumbai-taxis-part-our-landscape-3.html)

Nice post Rtech.The cabs are a nuisance for sure,but at the same time they are so helpful.As you rightly mentioned,just hop into the cab at anytime of the day or night.So very true.They do drive like mad,but then they get passenger who tell them to drive fast to reach the destination at a stipulated time.I once did ask a cabbie about it,and he replied if the passenger wants we drive fast else they drive at their usual pace aka 40kmph.
Infact if you notice,go head-on against them in your car,they wont budge.Its you who has to get out of the way.Hell,it gets irritating.
Thier speedos dont function.I wonder why????


Nopes it does'nt.Infact the round taillights you are talking about are acually black colored taillight covers.Lot of Indica cool cabs have them on.Infact many tourist vehicles too have them. :)

X

That's because they use the same connection to run their fare meters.

About the Indicab's, yes, they do have different taillights. 3 seperate lights in a matt black plastic shroud. This means that if they brake, the lights are easy and cheap to replace.

However, most of these are used as "Cool Cabs" i.e. AC cabs. Not many of them are the regular black n yellows.

I think the fact that it runs on Petrol goes against Omni. Most of the taxies run invariably on diesel. Indicab has picked up very well, since Diesel Indica is definitely very cost effective (or is at least perceived to be).

Have always wondered why Bombay doesnt have cabs run by companies in the organized sector, with trunk radios or other means of central communication.

You would get a much better cab experience if it were properly organized, as the company would be able to afford newer cars and keep them better maintained. Almost all large cities around the world have a good, organized cab setup and Mumbai definitely needs one (I mean the affordable taxis, not the fancy corporate variety that charges you 800 bucks for a drop to the airport from the bigger hotels in south mumbai).

Or at the very least Mumbai could have service providers who provide communication and other services (common service centres where they share the costs, group purchase of parts) to groups of individual cabbies, and set minimum standards for a taxi to run in the city. Let the individual cabbies run, but subject to SOME standards.

Taxi's have to run on CNG in Mumbai. And Maruti sell's a CNG equiped Omni as well. All the taxi's in Delhi are van's with CNG.

But I guess old habits are hard to change. Looks like we are stuck with the padmini for years to come.

The state of our taxi's creates such a bad impression on a tourist visiting the City for the first time. They come out of the airport and have to squeez into an uncomfortable, smelly and badly maintained taxi. They need to be some sort off code breaker to figure out how much they have to pay because our taxi's still use the old meters!

When other developing countries like the Philippines and Indonesia can have airconditioned Toyota Corolla's as taxi's, why are we subjected to these terrible vehicles! It's the Unions I tell you!

Thats a real good idea but a long leap forward. Atleast for Mumbai. :( Besides which government will want to take on the unions?

Well they talk about turning Mumbai into another Shanghai. Anybody coming into the city with visions of another Shanghai will have that impression blown away even before he lands in Mumbai thanks to wonderful view of the city as you land. Then they would go through a rather old airport, and any remaining hopes will be dashed when they squeeze into the backseat of a Padmini where the door has to be opened from the outside since the handles are missing....

Turn the unions into co-operatives and let them run the service - that will remove any qualms about corporatization. Once they've started running, bring in the corporates slowly.

I talked several Taxi drivers in Mumbai that the Padmini taxis were cheapest to maintain. Plus they only buy second vehicles for 20-25k. Low investment, low running cost, low maintenance = Good Business Economics

Good business economics for the drivers/operators maybe, but in the process, lower the standard of the whole city.

This is where the Govt. must step in. If only they had the b*ll's that is. They introduce laws on seatbelts, helmets, cleaner fuel and more stringent safety standards. But, all that goes out of the window the moment you step into a cab. Seatbelts? You're lucky if you have a seat most of the time. Basic safety checks are flouted. Tyres are bald or badly retreaded, with the tread flapping away. Meters are all rigged and overcharge you like crazy. Drivers are not trained and don't know half of the streets. Lord knows who fitted the cng cylinder behind you.

We need a Govt. with teeth. But what we have are a bunch of people more interested in changing the name of every heritage building to "Chatrapati Shivaji".

There is a joke which you would have probably heard. A foreigner gets in a cab at the Taj Mahal Hotel and tells the cabbie to take him to Chatrapatti Shivaji Terminal. Within 5 minutes, the cabbie stops and tells him they've reached. The foreigner is impressed and mutters to himself that the stupid receptionist at the Hotel told him it would take atleast 1 hour to get to the airport!!

For those not familiar with Bombay, the airport and main railway station all share the same name - "Chatrapati Shivaji", and it's the railway station that is 5 minutes from the Taj!

Rtech,

I agree with whatever you are saying. The big question is who will the bell the proverbial cat. We know that the governments are not interested to do that. Atleast, I know that in Bombay I can get a taxi to go wherever I want to and whatever time I want to. So I cannot say for many Indian cities...including our Rajdhani (New Delhi), with due apologies to delhiites.

I am thankful for the little mercies.....

Found somthing interesting on the Mumbai Traffic Police website.

Now you can lodge an online complaint against any rikshaw or cab here.

I wonder if any action will be taken after complaining. Maybe someone with a complaint can try it.