The affect of East-West Metro’s Howrah Maidan-Esplanade line, which has an interface with the North-South hall, has hit cabbies at Howrah station. Particularly affected are app-cab drivers who mentioned the variety of each long-distance clients and people tavelling to the central enterprise district from Howrah station has greater than halved on a mean for the reason that new Metro line opened on March 15.
“With crucial part of East-West Metro being operational for over one-and-a-half months, our enterprise has been severely hit alongside the route that the brand new East-West Metro part passes via. It extends to the North-South line’s route as properly due to the interface at Esplanade. Passengers who have been paying INR 250 from Howrah station to Esplanade can now journey the gap for INR 10. Our prices from Howrah station to Esplanade have now come right down to INR 120 from INR 250,” mentioned Pradeep Sain, an Ola driver at Howrah station.
Ravi Singh, who holds the tender for the parking zone at Howrah station, mentioned, “Earlier than the brand new Metro line opened, the cabs wouldn’t wait right here for lengthy. They might are available in and go away without delay. There could be lengthy queues of passengers. However now, the cabbies are simply resting right here all day.” What’s worse is that the parking charge of INR 71 an hour nonetheless needs to be paid. “Some app-cab firms embody the parking charge within the fare. Why ought to a passenger take an app cab and pay the additional INR 71 parking charge when he can zip to Esplanade station for INR 10 and go both south or north on the North-South line for INR 20 or so?” Singh mentioned.“Earlier than the Metro line was opened, I’d earn INR 2,000 a day. Nowadays I generally make INR 800 a day. On some days, there isn’t a passenger,” mentioned Vivek Jaiswal, a cab driver.
On a mean, the charges have gone down by INR 100, the cabbies mentioned. “Throughout non-rush hours, we used to cost INR 400 from Howrah station to Gariahat. Now, the fare is right down to INR 300,” mentioned Amit Das, a cabby.
“Ever for the reason that metro line opened, the dip in passengers has led to decrease fares. However that has but to draw passengers again,” mentioned Purushottam Kalra, who works in an app-cab firm. “We pin our hopes on households with numerous baggage. These with one or two suitcases, even in teams, go for the Metro,” mentioned Kanailal Shaw, a Yatri Sathi cabbie.
Indranil Banerjee, normal secretary of On-line App Cab Operators’ Guild, mentioned app-cab operators hope aggregators, like Ola and Uber, will introduce incentives for rides between Howrah and Kolkata to counteract the drop in demand. “Those that come to Kolkata for work used to rent an app cab from the station collectively. Now, they will simply change from the native prepare to the Metro and vice-versa. We’re unlikely to regain that phase of passengers. It’s the clients from the remainder of Howrah that we have to woo again,” he mentioned.
