<p>Modifying the new pickup rules at Terminal 1, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) on Friday extended the free parking duration at the pickup areas to 15 minutes.</p><p>As per the new pickup rules, which were enforced on December 13 at T1, commercial vehicles that do not have an association with BIAL must wait at designated parking zones, P3 and P4, where they will get 10 minutes of complimentary parking — the free wait time has now been extended to 15 minutes. After this, cab drivers will have to pay Rs 100 for a half-hour slot, and Rs 50 for every additional hour.</p><p>The designated parking areas can be accessed using shuttle buses, which operate at intervals of 7 minutes, in addition to buggies and cars available at T1.</p>.Karnataka minister Dinesh Gundu Rao requests for three Vande Bharat trains between Bengaluru and Mangaluru.<p>However, cab drivers believe the new relaxations will not aid their business, which has been severely impacted in the past two weeks.</p><p>"Passengers don't want to walk all the way to P4 with their luggage, and who can blame them? As many passengers aren't yet aware of the new rules, they end up booking cabs on different aggregator platforms. When they realise they need to walk to P4 to get to the cab, they'll end up cancelling. As most drivers are now waiting outside the airport premises, we're just wasting our fuel on cancelled trips," said Nagaraj S, a 43-year-old taxi driver.</p><p>Karnataka Chalakara Okkuta, a Bengaluru-based taxi driver's union, met Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Friday to discuss the matter.</p><p>"The minister has understood our point of view and has already spoken on our behalf. All the unions are hopeful that we'll see positive changes soon. We plan to meet with the BIAL administration on Monday," G Narayanaswamy, president of the association, told DH.</p><p>While social media continues to see resistance against the new rules, passengers on the ground have slowly begun adapting to the new rules.</p><p>An online petition calling for the new rules to be rolled back has garnered close to 1,000 signatures.</p><p>Many stay away from airport authorised cab aggregators, believing that they are more expensive. "Booking on other platforms like Makemytrip is much cheaper. I used the shuttle provided to hail a cab at P4. My only gripe is that there could be better markings for P4, this will help passengers in locating their cabs," said Shreeja, an RT Nagar resident.</p><p><strong>Proposed lane for corporate taxis</strong></p><p>On Friday, BIAL initially announced that a fifth lane would be dedicated to corporate yellow board vehicles. However, the statement was soon retracted.</p><p>As per the statement, slated to be enforced from December 28, corporate taxis will have to pay a fee of Rs 275 to access the lane for 15 minutes, located adjacent to Mitti Cafe and Shri Sagar. An airport source informed DH that the new lane for corporate taxis is likely to be launched in the coming days.</p>
<p>Modifying the new pickup rules at Terminal 1, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) on Friday extended the free parking duration at the pickup areas to 15 minutes.</p><p>As per the new pickup rules, which were enforced on December 13 at T1, commercial vehicles that do not have an association with BIAL must wait at designated parking zones, P3 and P4, where they will get 10 minutes of complimentary parking — the free wait time has now been extended to 15 minutes. After this, cab drivers will have to pay Rs 100 for a half-hour slot, and Rs 50 for every additional hour.</p><p>The designated parking areas can be accessed using shuttle buses, which operate at intervals of 7 minutes, in addition to buggies and cars available at T1.</p>.Karnataka minister Dinesh Gundu Rao requests for three Vande Bharat trains between Bengaluru and Mangaluru.<p>However, cab drivers believe the new relaxations will not aid their business, which has been severely impacted in the past two weeks.</p><p>"Passengers don't want to walk all the way to P4 with their luggage, and who can blame them? As many passengers aren't yet aware of the new rules, they end up booking cabs on different aggregator platforms. When they realise they need to walk to P4 to get to the cab, they'll end up cancelling. As most drivers are now waiting outside the airport premises, we're just wasting our fuel on cancelled trips," said Nagaraj S, a 43-year-old taxi driver.</p><p>Karnataka Chalakara Okkuta, a Bengaluru-based taxi driver's union, met Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Friday to discuss the matter.</p><p>"The minister has understood our point of view and has already spoken on our behalf. All the unions are hopeful that we'll see positive changes soon. We plan to meet with the BIAL administration on Monday," G Narayanaswamy, president of the association, told DH.</p><p>While social media continues to see resistance against the new rules, passengers on the ground have slowly begun adapting to the new rules.</p><p>An online petition calling for the new rules to be rolled back has garnered close to 1,000 signatures.</p><p>Many stay away from airport authorised cab aggregators, believing that they are more expensive. "Booking on other platforms like Makemytrip is much cheaper. I used the shuttle provided to hail a cab at P4. My only gripe is that there could be better markings for P4, this will help passengers in locating their cabs," said Shreeja, an RT Nagar resident.</p><p><strong>Proposed lane for corporate taxis</strong></p><p>On Friday, BIAL initially announced that a fifth lane would be dedicated to corporate yellow board vehicles. However, the statement was soon retracted.</p><p>As per the statement, slated to be enforced from December 28, corporate taxis will have to pay a fee of Rs 275 to access the lane for 15 minutes, located adjacent to Mitti Cafe and Shri Sagar. An airport source informed DH that the new lane for corporate taxis is likely to be launched in the coming days.</p>