Passengers arriving in Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) could get some relief from overcharging rickshaws in 2020 with the Central Railway (CR) entering into a contract with Ola Cabs to set up a kiosk at the railway terminus.
Senior CR officials said the app-based cab aggregator had won the bid to provide services from LTT. The company will pay CR ₹3.01 lakh for a one-year contract. In return, CR will provide it space to set up a kiosk at the station as well as dedicated parking slots for five to six cars.
“The company will most likely start operations from LTT from the first week of January,” a senior CR official said. This will be the second station in CR’s Mumbai Division to have an app-based cab service.
Earlier this year, CR had given the contract to Meru cabs to start operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. In October, The Hindu had reported how the two major app-based cab aggregators, Ola and Uber, had not shown any interest in CR’s attempts to start the service at LTT and Dadar. “We had floated the tender five times, with no response. This was the sixth attempt. We hope to set up a similar service in Dadar as well,” a senior CR official said.
Railway activist Subhash Gupta welcomed the move and said they had been demanding a prepaid rickshaw stand at the station for over a decade. “Not only will this reduce the daylight robbery of passengers coming to the station, but it will also ensure the safety of passengers,” he said.
The station has a prepaid taxi stand, but rickshaw drivers routinely overcharge passengers arriving at the station. CR officials said they had to face the wrath of anguished passengers and have in the past tried to curb the menace. In February, the Railway Protection Force even conducted a drive against auto drivers found entering the railway area.
