ALLOW ME TO HAIL MY OWN TAXI

Till recently we had to stop a taxi (four wheeler or three wheeler) either by waiving a hand or shouting "TAXI ..." Then came radio taxis, which could be booked on phone for a planned journey. But, a casual commuter in the market still had to hail his taxi the conventional way. Now companies like Ola and Uber have enabled the commuter to call a taxi on the fly by a tap on the mobile phone. And, everyone is up in arms against this unstoppable march of technology.

The new generation taxi owners/drivers are happy for they are enrolling in thousands with the "App". Customers are happy for they do not need to crane their necks and shout. A tap on the phone and the nearest free cab locates you on GPS. They are also happy since the the service is "cashless". The App also provides for sharing of the fare if there are many riders and they decide to go dutch - a revolution in cab sharing and car pooling, easily enabled by technology. The taxi drivers get their payments with unfailing regularity every week from the company after due deductions. Fares have come down substantially and the scope for cheating and overcharging has been cut down significantly.

But, the entrenched taxi owners/drivers, radio taxi companies, TV and Print media, sections of the government and courts do not seem comfortable with this concept anywhere in the world. Conventional taxi drivers went on a nationwide strike in France. There have been protests against and attacks on Uber in China, South Africa and USA.

How can the main stakeholder, the taxi rider be so conveniently forgotten? Just a few months ago retailers of consumer durables, white goods and electronic gadgets raised a hue and cry against online retailers only to be told that there was nothing the government could do to help them. Why this activism in case of taxis.

My prediction - no matter what these guys and institutions do, Ola and Uber and many others like them are here to stay for technology marches unimpeded.