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I agree with you. The Meru and City drivers are some of the worst. I recall when the airport just opened and I went on a visit. This Meru guy behind me was honking away when I was in the left lane of the airport road (i.e. after trumpet inside BIAL property). At the terminal approach fork, I must have stopped for less that 5 seconds to see which lane to take and he just piled on his horn.

I was sorely tempted to step out and give him a piece of my mind, and possibly my fist. :)

In Dallas, gravel hauling truckers had a similar system of renumeration that forced them to drive rash. One of them took out a car with mom and two kids. After that the city went after the company and sued them for implementing an incentive system which encouraged unsafe driving.

I think Meru has some connection to Hertz. Either it is owned, or has its cars from Hertz. Not sure. Can someone from Praja help clarify this. If yes, we should put pressure on Hertz as part of its CSR.

I also agree on the stick, but the problem is that stick wielders just don't wield it. So publicly we can only ask for empathy.

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Regards

Devesh R. Agarwal

Visit my aviation blog at http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com

 

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Narayan, Its not a joke with the number of accidents that are occurring on NH7 mostly involving airport-taxis. I am now very scared to hop onto the taxi i'd much rather wait and take a Volvo Bus! Lets look a little deeper as to why these taxis are speeding. Coming with a taxi operation-fleet management background i knew the problem was more social. I did a bit of research from the taxi drivers the following are some of my observations: The Drivers work on commission basis. (So the more trips they make the more they earn.) Meru/Easy cabs has not been able to guarantee return trips to the airport. Most of the drivers are very fresh and dont have much of driving experience. As i have always told : Social problems can never be solved with Technical solutions So the solution to this problem is not with speed governors. Solutions: 1) Proper Driver Education / Training programs 2) Possible revision of driver-pay strategy to ensure lesser stress on the drivers. 3) The airport taxi companies must ensure return trips or work towards that. They could very easily adopt the airlift mode of operation :-) There are many ways of making a big business out of this if only these companies think out-of-the box -- Praveen Sundaram AkA PhotoYogi

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Dear Srivathsa,
Please do share with us the reply from meru cabs when it does come. Meanwhile i hope they take some pointers from my post Taxis with speed regulators
-- Praveen Sundaram AkA PhotoYogi

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Get an individual train than train individuals!

train individuals will be a much more long drawn task...

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Devesh,

See my post a bit higher up.  My taxi reached the spot about 15-30 mins after the accident.  The locals were furious.  I am surprised that they did not burn any car or bus.  BIAL needs to take this up with MERU and CitiCab. A fine of Rs.10 lakh for each such incident might set things right.  Apparently a MERU cab driver pays Rs.900per day as rent and therefore needs to do at least 200 km to make a living. 

I myself have made it clear to my regular taxi driver that I EXPECT him to drive carefully when I hire him.  He shall not cross 70 kmph.  He shall wait at red lights even if it is 5:00 a.m.  Else I will move my business elsewhere.  Considering that I give him a decent amount of business each month he has been driving carefully.

Yesterday morning left home (JP Nagar 7th phase) at 4:48 on his clock.  He drive sanely and we were at the drop off point at 5:45 a.m.  A distance of 48 km in just under an hour without any maniacal driving.  He saw the light.  I told him that he will also get better fuel efficiency and less wear and tear if he drove around 70-75 kmph. 

Once on the way back he drive quite badly.  I told him to take it easy.  I told him that he would get high blood pressure soon if he continued that way and that he would have real troubles.  I have told him to visit my father to check his blood pressure every 6 months.  He seems chastened and in fact mentioned that he would always drive carefully after seeing yesterday's accident.  I hope that lasts.

The police patrols need to start in full swing.  They need to position themselves near critical junctions so that they can give chase quickly.  Once word is out that the police will give chase, people will fall in line - 90% of them. 

Asking empathy from Bangaloreans (a majority of them at least) is akin to squeezing water from stone.  It is not going to happen.  A stick is what is needed. 

Srivathsa

 

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