Chennai: Plan to get more cabs at airport stalled

CHENNAI: Hiring a cab has become a hassle for passengers who arrive at Chennai airport yet again.
After Ola’s contract got over by the end of January, passengers who arrive have to book cabs using apps as counters run by the aggregator are no longer available. Domestic passengers who have apps on their phones hail cabs, but those who do not, have to depend on the black-and-yellow taxis operated by drivers’ cooperative. But these taxis are expensive. International passengers who have heavy luggage have no option but to depend on touts.
Airport Authorities of India’s (AAI) attempt to rope in more cab aggregators is getting delayed. This has led to chaos in front of the international and domestic arrival terminals. The black-and-yellow taxis are not able to handle the crowd because the drivers cooperative, which has a counter outside the terminals, has only around 100 cabs at its disposal.
Since the only licensed app-cab operator has exited, there is no restriction for any cab company from entering the lane infront of the terminals to pick up passengers. Still, passengers have to walk to the parking lot to board the cabs.
Sources said AAI should try to rope in more cab operators by charging a fee rather than going for a tender which makes the operator to pay a licence fee in crores to bring their cabs to pick up passengers.
“The airport does not have its own transport policy for passengers who want to hire cabs from the arrival terminals. Only a premium operator with limited number of cabs has a counter at the terminal. Private airports have a fee system by which they allow multiple cab operators to pick passengers from terminals,” said an official.
The tender system might not be a good option because the operators might try to fix their terms and the licence fee proposed by AAI would not be viable for them, he said.
AAI held a meeting of cab operators in New Delhi to get feedback so that a tender can be floated to attract app-cabs at Chennai airport and other smaller airports. But the tender is yet to take off. All major airports in the country including AAI-run Kolkata airport has multiple cab operators. But in Chennai, it is a free for all and passengers are left to fend for themselves.