Taking Uber, Ola head on: Mumbai's kaali peeli taxi unions propose launching an app

In an increasingly tech-driven world, if you can’t resist change, be the change yourself. Mumbai taxi unions are learning this lesson the hard way and it has potential to change the city transport drastically. According to a Mid-Day report, the taxi unions in the city are considering launching an app to take on their big corporate rivals, taxi aggregators such as Uber and Ola. The app will allow the passengers to book black and yellow taxies and the unions will decide the modalities at a meeting on 26 July, the report says. “We will soon send a proposal (of the app) to the state Transport department. We are presently working out how it will function,” said A L Quadros, taxi union leader has been quoted as saying in the report. [caption id=“attachment_2072619” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Nitish Rane, leader of Swabhiman taxi union and MLA from Kankavali, had earlier last month termed private taxi aggregators “illegal”, while callilng for a strike. K K Tiwari, Mumbai president of the union had said the strike “is only an alarm to the state government”. “…if our demands are not met, then the union would be forced to launch an intensive agitation,” he had said. The union had even sought a ban on the app-driven service providers from the state transport department. However, the rejection of their demand from the authorities seem to have forced to take to innovation and adaptation. If the taxies manage to get their plan approved, it will indeed change the transport dynamics of the public transport in the city because as Sunainaa Chadha of Firstpost recently found out , in times of distress, good old Kaali Peeli taxies are better than the corporate biggies.