Hyderabad: Although prepaid taxi drivers operating from RGIA airport in Shamshabad have been receiving adequate footfall after restrictions on international travel have been lifted, cabbies complain about earnings that are minimal due to the parking fee at the airport, service charges by the traffic police and the skyrocketing petrol and diesel prices.
Tariff for prepaid taxis is fixed by the state government, which is not including service charges imposed by the traffic and the enrolment fee charged by RGIA authorities. Drivers have to enrol and pay parking fees.
Despite an increase in footfall, implying more trips, the drivers wear sad faces as they are left with very little earnings. Parking fee for each entry is Rs 60, while the police service charge is Rs 30. Prices of fuel have increased to unimaginable levels. Incidentally, the tariff was fixed by the state government way back in 2016. Prices of fuel and other commodities have more than doubled in the last six years but the tariff remains the same, rue many drivers.
For example, the rate fixed for the 35-km trip from Airport to Banjara Hills is Rs 710. Another Rs 80 is added if the ride is between 11 pm and 5 am.
An overwhelming 2,000 pre-paid taxis operate at the airport. A major drawback for pre-paid taxis is that as they are not app based, drivers will have to head back to the city without any passengers.
Even before Hyderabad airport was shifted from Begumpet and when there were no app-based cab services, only prepaid taxi services existed at the airport.
Sheikh Abdul Lateef from Shaheen Nagar, who has been driving taxis from the time the airport was in Begumpet, said, “after restrictions were lifted on international travel on March 27, we are getting more trips. But we are not able to make any substantial savings considering that the mileage of vehicles varies between 14 to 16 kilometres per litre. Everything has become costlier in the last six years. The government should come to the rescue of people like us.”
Mohd Javeed, a prepaid taxi driver, said “because of Covid-19, all our services were shut down. Most of our vehicles have been bought against EMIs. There is an immediate need to increase the tariff.”
