8/24/2017 Airport turns into war zone as metered taxis target app cabs - Times of India

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Airport turns into war zone as metered taxis target app

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tnn | Aug 24, 2017, 04.45 AM IST

Kolkata: Passengers arriving at Kolkata airport on Wednesday evening met

with a rude shock when they enountered scenes of sticus and utter
chaos on exiting the terminal building. Scared, women and children stood
with their backs to the terminal's glass facade, watching in horror as
drivers of metered and luxury cabs hurled abuses at Uber and Ola
operators and entered into a scue.

The brute muscle exing by the heavily unionised cab drivers against app
cabs that most opt for these days left passengers shaken and wondering
if anything had changed at all since the 1970s when militant unionism led
to the ight of capital. Ironically, the unsavory incident happened shortly
before chief minister Mamata Banerjee met Fifa ocials and assured them
of a smooth pitch during the Under-17 Fifa World Cup in October.

According to witnesses, drivers of yellow cabs and white luxury taxis charged at Ola and Uber operators who were setting up
two kiosks along the driveway to facilitate cab booking by passengers arriving at the airport. Both app-cab techology rms had
recently entered into an agreement with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to oer the facility. Yellow cabs already have two
kiosks manned by ocials of the Bengal Taxi Association, a former Left-aliated union that has crept closer to Trinamool
Congress after the latter stormed to power in 2011. Some said radio taxi Megacabs also alligned with the yellow cabs in
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8/24/2017 Airport turns into war zone as metered taxis target app cabs - Times of India

Wednesday's squabble in a bid to stall competition.

A passenger who arrived from Delhi by an early evening ight said the scenes he witnessed were reminiscent of clashes that
break out in slums. "There were screams, abuses, sticus. It was horrible. Passengers were held hostage as Ola and Uber
cabs were not responding to bookings. It was almost an hour before cops could control the situation. But it left a bitter
impression," he said.

Babulal Yadav, who owns the agency engaged by the airport to operate the parking lot, said metered taxi drivers stopped app
cabs from entering the airport between 4pm and 5pm. Hence, passengers had no option but wait.

"Now, 60% passengers prefer app cabs because they oer transparent fares, comfortable rides and hasslefree bookings. That
gure would instantaneously shoot up if there are kiosks because there is still a section of people who are not savvy with
smartphones and hence queue up at the metered taxi kiosk or ag down a luxury taxi. The fear of losing passengers big time
led to the friction," he said. There have also been allegations of luxury taxis eecing passengers, often charging Rs 800-1,000
for a trip to Howrah station when app cabs charge only Rs 500-550 for the same.

An airport ocial said AAI had entered into a strategic alliance with Ola and Uber to full commuting demand of passengers at
the AAI-run Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Lucknow and Bhubaneswar airports. "This alliance will facilitate iers to book a cab
through the kiosks. This will reduce the hassle of waiting or moving out for such app-based cabs and provide a dedicated
boarding point," the ocial said.

"They are now authorised vendors at Kolkata airport. Even prior to this, app cabs have been paying Rs 100 parking fee while
picking up passengers from the airport while yellow metered cabs and white luxury cabs don't give any revenue to AAI despite
occupying space and generating business on the airport premises," he said.

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8/24/2017 Airport turns into war zone as metered taxis target app cabs - Times of India

Airport director Atul Dikshit conrmed an usavory incident had happened and said he had asked police to ensure passengers
are not harassed. "We will take all necessary steps to ensure passengers aren't inconvenienced," he added.

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