Maharashtra Developing App for Black and Yellow Taxis: Fadnavis

The Maharashtra government is in the process of developing and launching a cab hailing app within three months for black and yellow taxis on the lines of those provided by private aggregators like Ola and Uber, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Friday. He was responding to a query raised by Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde, Hemant Takle (NCP) and others in the State Legislative Council in Mumbai. Raising the issue during the Question Hour, Takle said that after app-based cab aggregators came into the picture, the business of black and yellow taxi drivers has gone down considerably and he questioned if the government will take steps to ensure they survive the fierce competition. Responding to him, State Transport Minister Diwakar Raote said the government has brought an ordinance of City Taxi Service Control Rules and that suggestions of 6,000 people have taken into account on the issue. Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde said that Ola and Uber enable users to track locations besides providing easy services. "When will the government bring in such an App for black and yellow taxis ?" he questioned. To this, Fadnavis said, "the government is in the process of developing an electronic platform for black and yellow taxis similar to that of cab aggregators. It will provide services similar to those given by cab aggregators. This app will be launched in three months." Earlier, Kiran Pawaskar (NCP) pointed out that cab aggregators have survived across the world due to the low costs they charge customers, cleanliness and manners their cabs and drivers have and facilities of tracking they provide to customers. "On the other hand, black and yellow taxi drivers do not wear uniforms, do not behave properly and blatantly refuse to ferry customers. They do not provide proper service and hold people to ransom anytime. Will they be asked to adhere to rules," he questioned. Responding to Pawaskar, Raote had said that black and yellow taxi drivers will themselves have to deal with issues like mannerisms and cleanliness to increase business and survive competition and that taxi unions can help them with these issues. "Also, the government is mulling to provide AC services to customers of black and yellow taxi drivers who have taken a new car to bring them at par with Ola and Uber," Raote said.