HAIL THE HAILING APP
Taxis registered with GTDC on the hailing app will also be allowed to operate prepaid taxi rides from
GTDC OPERATED COUNTERS
* GTDC residencies
* MPT jetty counter
* Airport taxi counter
* Santa Monica jetty
* Other GTDC counters
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PANAJI: The much awaited ride hailing app being developed by the Goa Tourism Development Corporation will be launched ‘shortly’ the Goa Tourism Development Corporation announced as it called upon taxi operators to register with the app hailing service.
But how will the app work or will it be scuttled as some activists fear?
According to the GTDC, the taxis registered with GTDC on the hailing app will also be allowed to operate prepaid taxi rides from GTDC operated counters -- GTDC residencies, MPT jetty counter, airport taxi counter, Santa Monica jetty and other counters which will be set up by GTDC at designated spots.
“Every taxi at a designated location will have to follow the online queuing system based on which a ride will be confirmed/assigned to every taxi operator" and that the taxi fares will be as per the government (Directorate of Transport) notified rates only.
This means that in addition to the passengers they pick up online, the taxi operators will also be eligible to source customers from the real life counters operated by the GTDC, and one presumes that these taxis that are linked to the app will also be located at these counters wherever they are set up.
Speaking to The Goan, GTDC Chairman Nilesh Cabral said that the technology and principle behind GTDC’s app was similar to that run by other app aggregators Ola and Uber.
“We will not be like them but we will be similar to them,” Cabral said. The taxi operators will have to only upload their information.
Cabral said the intention was to cover the entire state of Goa but they would initially cover only the popular areas frequented by tourists.
Cabral was the first to promise that the government would develop its own cab aggregator app.
“We will develop our own app and taxis can be booked through the app. We will not allow Ola and Uber… we are not considering that. GTDC will have its own service,” Cabral said early last year.
He was forced to respond to demands that the state government allow the services of cab aggregators Ola and Uber in the state.
Earlier the GTDC had floated an expression of interest (EoI) seeking reputed software developers or taxi aggregators to develop a mobile app for app based taxis in Goa.
Stakeholders especially those who were campaigning for a taxi revolution in the form of app based taxi aggregators in Goa are skeptical of the Government’s plans to introduce a functional app for taxis in Goa.
“We appreciate efforts of the Goa Government but taxi lobby will be trying to derail every attempt for the app so it is never successful. All Women's taxi was a simple initiative that should have succeeded and this initiative should take care of every issue including hacking,” Mahesh Sardesai the initiator of the online petition to allow Ola and Uber in Goa has said.
Early last year, chairman of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation Nilesh Cabral had also promised that the GTDC would launch its own aggregator app which would ensure streamlined taxi services in Goa.
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Come, join the new app:
GTDC to taxi operators
PANAJI: The Goa Tourism Development Corporation has invited taxi operators in the state to submit their applications for a ‘taxi hailing app’ being developed by the Tourism Corporation. In an advertisement issued in some newspapers in the state, the GTDC has said that its app is being launched ‘shortly’.
However, despite putting out the advertisement, the online link mentioned in the ad only shows the words “coming soon” with a couple of helpline numbers to call.
Taxi operators registered in Goa and with a valid fitness certificate and registration as a tourist taxi are eligible to apply to be enrolled on the app.
