Bangalore International Airport revamps cab operations, introduces unified brand "The Airport Taxi"

A revamp of taxi operations at the Bengaluru International Airport has taken place, with the airport operating company BIAL launching an all new fleet of taxis under a new unified service brand called “The Airport Taxi”.

Bangalore becomes the first airport in India to develop and offer a taxi service with a unique identity.

The all white taxi fleet will be at 2,000 cars comprising of brands such as Toyota Etios, Maruti Swift Dzire, and Mahindra Verito (formerly Renault Logan). 1,400 taxis were introduced today and the balance 600 will be added through calendar 2012. The taxi service will be operated by two existing operators, Meru and KSTDC, and one new operator, Mega cabs. The bookings can be done at 080-4422-4422 or 080-4747-4747 or 080-4900-7777.

Leaving airport operations is the cab company Easy Cab. Bangalore Aviation understands that the taxi contracts came up for renewal and Easy Cab's offer was not as attractive as the others and hence was replaced.

What is surprising is the inclusion of Meru. The cab company has a poor reputation amongst frequent travellers due to the numerous strikes and incidents in the past, which led to disruptions of service at the airport.

Bangalore Aviation once again strongly advises travellers to and from the airport to discourage the touts and use only the official "The Airport Taxi" service or the Vayu Vajra Volvo airport bus service.

Editor's note: Bangalore Aviation regrets the error in the original story which indicated Meru had left the airport operations. The release from BIAL did not contain cab company details and there was a mis-understanding, by us, on which cab companies continued. Our sincere apologies.

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Friday woes for Bengaluru International Airport

BIAL, the promoter of Bengaluru International Airport, has been making steady progress in streamlining operations, and increasing functionality and usability at airport, especially in the non-passenger areas, but BIAL had a litany of woes yesterday, which made for a terrible Friday, and left me shaking my head, commiserating with BIAL.

First, the Karnataka High Court ruled that the airport is a public institution, which has other ramifications for BIAL.

On a petition filed by Flemingo Duty Free Shops Limited of Mumbai challenging BIAL not considering their expression of interest to set up duty-free shops at the international airport, a division Bench, headed by Justice V Gopala Gowda, held that BIAL is an entity which comes under Article 12 of the Constitution and is subject to writ jurisdiction, consequently quashed the contract awarded to duty-free shops at the airport.

BIAL had said that as it was purely a private company, its actions were not subject to writ jurisdiction.

The court, while nullifying the contract given by the airport to Nuance Group AG of Switzerland for setting up of these shops, asked BIAL to redo the process from the expression of interest stage and complete it within 45 days.

This is a repeat of the June ruling of the Mumbai High Court against MIAL, the operator of Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. In that case too, Flemingo was the petitioner.

No doubt, the Supreme Court, is the next stop for this saga.

Second, at around 4pm, passengers faced a harrowing day at the airport, when the servers handling the check-in for Jet Airways and Kingfisher crashed. These two airlines handle over 65% of the total traffic at Bangalore, and Friday 4pm is probably one of the highest periods in the week. Passenger queues immediately built-up, as did tempers and angst.

As per the Deccan Chronicle

"But after the servers crashed, the two airliners’ started issuing boarding passes manually. The manual ticketing was time-consuming. Passengers protested against the long delays. Additional staff were deputed to handle the ticketing and the situation was soon brought under control. But it took an hour to get the systems up and running," sources said.

Congrats to everyone in reacting to the situation and resolving it quickly.

As if this was not enough, more trouble came in the form of a repeat strike by the drivers of Meru Cabs, who had gone on strike earlier this week.

As per the Deccan Chronicle

In addition, passengers arriving at BIA found there were no cabs to take them into the city after drivers of Meru cab services called a snap stir and suspended services, for the second time this week. Many passengers were seen boarding the Volvo bus service to the city. The drivers, had been assured there would be a revision in the stipulated daily collection when they had a meeting with the management last week.

According to that arrangement, the company provides the drivers with cars while the drivers pay the company Rs 900 per day irrespective of their revenue. This rate was revised upwards to Rs 1,200 from December 1 which upset the drivers.

The meeting to resolve differences on Friday was inconclusive, a Meru cab driver said. "Not only has the company increased daily fees, it has added 250 cars to the existing fleet of 500 which has affected our business. This angered us and we called for strike. We will resume only after our demands are met," said Krishna Murthy, a driver.

When contacted. a Meru company spokesperson said all Meru services are temporarily suspended and services would resume soon. He declined to comment on the deadlock with the drivers. Meru is a major operator at the airport and has bagged more than 50 percent of the transport business.

I remind passengers, that there are two more taxi operators at the airport, and the wonderful BMTC Vayu Vajra Volvo bus service. There is no need to panic. Just click on the "BIA Bus and Taxi" link on the top menu for full details.

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Meru Cab and Easy Cab drivers strike in Bangalore

The Times of India reports that passengers were put to hardship at Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) and Bangalore city on Tuesday, as luxury cabs went on strike at the airport in protest against the suicide of a cab driver owing to alleged harassment by owners.

All the close to 400 cabs, of Meru Cab and Easy Cab, were off services to and from the airport, demanding that working conditions for the cab drivers be eased by owners. The drivers said they would continue their protest as long as the owners did not offer them a better alternative.

Owing to the strike, many travellers took other cabs to the city and even the famed Vayu Vajra Volvo buses, which have been a hit among passengers from day one.

Drivers of Meru and Easy Cab told The Times of India: "We will be on strike until the owners of the company improve things for us." While Easy Cab drivers were the first to protest, Meru cab drivers also joined them later and expressed solidarity by calling off their services.

The luxury cab drivers were protesting as Easy Cab driver, Prakash of Madhugiri, Tumkur district, consumed poison on November 30 and died on Friday following financial pressure and alleged harassment by owners. The drivers alleged that the company collected Rs 25,000 as advance before handing over the car, but failed to fulfil promises made on maintenance and repairs. The drivers also alleged that the owners sought very high daily rentals when the driver could not afford to pay them.

"When there is recession and not many are taking our cabs, how do we make money and from where do we pay the owners almost Rs 900 a day? It used to be Rs 600 only. When there is no business, it is not possible to pay. Naturally, when you have to pay daily, pressure builds. Let them relax the conditions," a driver said.

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Online booking of BMTC Vayu Vajra Volvo bus, and Bengaluru airport taxi information

December 3, 2008 update

BMTC is no longer booking via Redbus and Viaworld. For online booking please visit www.ticketvala.com.

If you find this article useful, before jumping off the blog, I will appreciate if you can leave a comment or your thanks. Also consider subscribing to the blog via RSS or choose to receive e-mail updates when new articles are posted. See the right side of this page.

The Karnataka State Tourism Development Coporation (KSTDC) is now the third taxi operator at Bengaluru International Airport (BIA). According to Vinay Luthra, managing director, KSTDC, 100 new taxis, mainly Mahindra Logans and and Tata Indigos, have commenced operations.

At the same time, BMTC has done some route rationalisation and changes in bus stop locations to accommodate the Metro construction.



I am summarising the contact information for all the various taxi and bus services to BIA for your ready reference.

Bus Service
Without a doubt, still the most value efficient airport service are the BMTC, Vayu Vajra (air-conditioned Volvo) and Suvarna (non-AC) bus service. Both services are known for their 24x7 service, comfort, efficiency, and safety. At an average fare (to/from City Centre) of Rs.150 ($3.10), for the AC and Rs.80 ($1.70) for non AC, they are unbeatable.

BMTC has also tied up with Cel Cabs and SGL for Home Connect taxi service which offers a door pick-up/drop-off, to the nearest Vayu Vajra/Suvarna bus stop for an additional Rs.100 ($2).

For details on service, routes, and timings, visit the BMTC information website.

For the Home Connect taxi service call +91 (80) 6060-9090 (Cel) or +91 (80) 4299-4399 (SGL).

Individual Taxi Service
Next in the list are the three paid taxi service operators listed in alphabetical order. These are available ad-hoc from the airport terminal, but require an advance booking of 2 hours, from the city. All services are air-conditioned, GPS equipped, and charge Rs. 15/- per kilometer. A trip to/from the city centre will cost you about Rs.650 (US$14).

Easy Cab. Call them on +91 (80) 4343-4343 or book online at www.easycabs.com.
KSTDC. Call them on +91 (80) 4242-5555.
Meru Cab. Call them on +91 (80) 4422-4422 or book online at www.merucabs.com.

Shared Taxi Service
Next are the shared taxi service operators. Airlift and Zoom. These services require an advance booking of about 5~6 hours. Personally, I have had a decent experience with Airlift. I have no experience with Zoom.

A trip on Airlift will cost you Rs.340 ($7). A pick-up or drop-off at your doorstep will add Rs.100 ($2) to the tab.

Airlift. Call them on +91 (80) 4052-8888 or visit www.airliftonline.com
Zoom Airport Express. Call them on +91 (80) 6561-1999 or visit www.zoomairportexpress.com.

For those wanting to use autorickshaws or inter-city buses, there is a transit centre at the trumpet interchange. BMTC runs a shuttle bus from this transit centre to the airport terminal.

For an overview of parking at, and other transport options to/from, Bengaluru International Airport, please read my previous article. I hope you will find it helpful.

Please post your bus or taxi travel experience via a comment.

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Online booking of Taxi and BMTC Vayu Vajra Volvo bus

Updated information is available on the "BIA Bus & Taxi" link on the top menu bar.

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