Al-Khanji (left) explaining a point as Mahalingam, Sangwook Kang, Jani-Pekka Jokinena and Wolfram Stering look on at one of the sessions on taxi operations and challenges at the UITP Summit yesterday.  PICTURE: Jayan Orma 

Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter

The behaviour of the public transport drivers, especially those of the cabbies, came in for criticism at one of the sessions on "Regulation and organisation of taxi transport in cities" held as part of the UITP Summit yesterday.
At least two of the speakers on the panel highlighted the issues arising out of the behaviour of cabbies and spoke at length on the necessity of instilling discipline and good habits among the drivers.
P Mahalingam, who leads an NGO catering to mass transport activities in the Indian city of Chennai, said arguments between cabbies and customers over fares and sometimes over other issues are a worldwide phenomenon in the taxi sector. Issues like the basis of calculation of fares- time or distance-always contribute to disputes between cabbies and customers virtually everywhere, he said.
The expert said owing to the prevalence of time-focused fares in some countries, deliberate slowing down by cabbies has been a common practice in those places. It also results traffic congestion, when lots of taxis are on road, he said.
The speaker also called for better treatment of the cabbies in the region, including local drivers, like improving their service conditions.
While speaking on the challenges in South Korea owing to the oversupply of taxis, another speaker, Sangwook Kang, said such issues as physical and mental stress of the cabbies while they are at work are not properly addressed anywhere in the world.
Jani Pekka Jookinena (Finland) and Wolfram Stering (Austria) too spoke at the session. Executive Director (Support Services) of Mowasalat Nasser al-Khanji was the moderator.

Related Story