Soon, 7-seater cabs for city

Starting January 2010, a family of six can travel in a single taxi without worrying about being fined by the traffic police.

Starting January 2010, a family of six can travel in a single taxi without worrying about being fined by the traffic police. And it will not be a Fiat or an Indica. It will be a fancy Maruti Versa.

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Mumbai’s roads will soon have seven-seater Maruti Versa cars serving as black and yellow taxis. The Mumbai Taximen’s Union is planning to buy at least 500 such taxis to replace old taxis.

“The new taxis are being manufactured by Maruti [Udyog Limited] and will be mainly introduced in suburbs where the demand for taxis is less,” said A. L. Quadros, general secretary, Mumbai Taximen’s Union.

Transport Commissioner Deepak Kapoor was out of town and said he will have to check the status of the proposed launch.

This move is being seen as a tool to beat competition from private air-conditioned cabs and the Metro and Monorail.

“Taxis are usually not a preferred mode of public transport especially in suburban Mumbai. So we want to introduce these new taxis, without increasing the fare,” said another Union official requesting anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The new vehicles will have two seats in the front and middle, and three seats at the back with two doors on each side. The vehicle will also have luggage space behind the back seat.

“The transport department has already permitted Toyota Innova cars as private taxis and so we don’t think separate permission will be required for these cabs,” added Quadros.

Sources in the Regional Transport Office (RTO), however, said that permission is mandatory before introducing any new vehicle.

These taxis will initially ply on the western and eastern express highways. They will provide car-pooling options to those travelling to south Mumbai during office hours. New share-a-taxi routes are also being identified.

These taxis would cost at least Rs 3.25 lakh and drivers fear buying them will make a deep dent in their pockets. When the state transport department recently decided to scrap taxis, which are more than 25 years old, several taxi drivers complained that taking loans for new vehicles would make things difficult.