SHILLONG: The rickety public transport system in the capital city has compelled commuters here to live at the mercy of taxi drivers who often harass passengers either by refusing a ride or charging exorbitant fares.
In the absence of adequate public vehicles, people have to wait for local taxis. Almost every commuter in the city encounters rude or reluctant drivers daily.
Many taxi drivers refuse to ferry daily passengers on share basis and ask them to reserve the car.
While most of the Government owned buses and maxi cabs are placed in Motphran-Mawblei route, commuters in other routes of the city face problems.
Of late, it has been observed that passengers going to Bishnupur have to wait for more than half an hour to board taxis as none of the local taxis would go to the area. Also, the number of vehicles going to Jhalupara is less and late on Friday evening, hordes of people were found waiting for vehicles.
The fate of passengers waiting for taxis at Rhino Point is similar. Their wait lengthens with every refusal by a whimsical driver.
And since government-owned buses hardly ply on these routes, passengers are still largely dependent on local cabbies.
When asked, a local cab driver said there is always a shortage of taxis and claimed that many of them always get stuck in the traffic. However, speaking on the issue of shortage of local taxis, East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner and chairman of Regional Transport Authority PS Dkhar asserted that there are a good number of local taxis and there is no need to issue more permits.
But angry citizens who have to go through the ordeal every day want the government to take action against erring drivers.
Dkhar said the Regional Transport Authority would sit shortly and discuss if the permits should be issued for more local taxi drivers to ply only in particular areas in order to bring the flow of local taxi in all areas at par with each other.
“We will have to take some decision to streamline the plying of local taxis but before that we will have to do some study as well,” he said.
Long ordeal for Lawsohtun commuters
Office goers, parents picking up their wards from school and students are frustrated with the problem they face with the cabbies.
“Lawsohtun taxis are not taking passengers to Lawsohtun from Rhino. Every day I pick up my daughter from school and when I reach Rhino, no taxi is willing to go to Lawsohtun. Only if we reserve by paying exorbitant rate that they agree to ply to the destination,” said a parent in anger.
Another passenger said that she does not understand why when passengers take a cab to the market, the cabby demands that they get down where ever the traffic jam starts, and some even refuse to go to the market and turn away halfway, but the passengers are compelled to pay the full fare.
