Goa taxi drivers go on strike, demand dismissal of app

Thousands of tourists arriving and exiting Goa on Friday were put through hardship, after thousands of taxi drivers went on a day-long strike on Friday, demanding the immediate closure of a government-appointed cab aggregating service, which has emerged as a threat to the unregulated taxi sector.

Tourists, were seen stranded at the Dabolim international airport, railway stations and inter-state bus stops, with no taxis unavailable to pick them up.

"We will not budge from us stance. We need the government to shut down the GoaMiles taxi app, which is encroaching on the livelihood of our taxi operators," All Goa Taxi Operators Union president Chetan Kamat told Deccan Herald.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, however, urged the striking taxi operators to resume their work but ruled out shutting down GoaMiles, a taxi aggregating service which works under the aegis of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation.

"We can even make a similar apps for taxi operators who have gone on a strike. I urge them to adapt to new technology and withdraw the strike," Sawant said.

Goa's several private taxi associations run around 30,000 registered taxis in the state which has been at loggerheads with GoaMiles, which they claim is an illegally operating service. In the last one year, more than a dozen First Information Reports have been filed by GoaMiles taxi drivers, accusing private taxi operators of assault and giving threats.

Goa’s taxi operators, who run taxi services without functioning fare meters, have also been repeatedly accused of fleecing and behaving rudely with customers, primarily tourists, forcing the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, a top body of industry stakeholders, to complain to the government that the abysmal service from the taxi sector was one of the factors which is responsible for a dip in tourism arrival numbers in Goa.