Mumbai roads will be a different sight a few years from now, with the city?s local taximen opting for more plush and sophisticated cool cabs in place of the iconic black and yellow Premier Padmini plying since decades. This move comes on the back of the Maharashtra government?s decision to privatise the cab service in the city, which did not go down well with the local taxi unions.
Local taxi unions and associations including Mumbai Taxi Association, the Bombay Taximen?s Union (BTU) and the Mumbai Pune Taxi Association, therefore, came together and joined hands with Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL), Fortpoint Automotive Cars Pvt Ltd and New India Co-operative Bank to offer their fellow taximen, a brand new Maruti Esteem Lxi Cool Cab at a subsidised cost of Rs 5, 01,116 (which includes CNG kit, insurance and the meter) with a heavy discount of Rs 80,000 from Maruti.
The bank is offering finance up to 90% at an attractive rate of interest of 11%; a cab owner can get a new Esteem by making a minimum down payment of Rs 50,000. Some 50 cool cabs have already been booked and the unions? are planning to replace 500 cool cabs of the 52,000 black and yellow cabs plying in the city by the end of December.
Officially launching the new cool cab, Maharashtra state finance minister, Jayant Patil delivered the keys to the 11 cab owners. Patil believed the cool cabs can transform the transportation scenario of the city. He said, ?Cabs and cab drivers are like brand ambassadors for the city. A foreigner develops his impression about the city, from the greeting of a cab driver and while travelling in his cab.?
While the number of private cars in Mumbai has gone up from 61,000 in 1961 to 50 lakhs in 2001, cab figures have remained static. ?Introduction of CNG Cool Cabs will significantly improve the transportation scenario in the city in the coming two years. CNG will not only reduce the emission levels, but will also offer more comfort to the consumers and mileage to the cab owners,? added the minister.
AL Quadros, general secretary, BTU informed that the union is in talks with MUL to introduce WagonR as well, ?depending on the pricing, we will decide about it,? he said. The state government had reportedly planned to replace 1,000 cars by December 2006, but till date, only 300 of them were replaced.
However according to Patil, due to the lack of support from Unions, the scheme introduced by the Maharashtra government could not take off as expected.