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The institute has already rolled out 13 batches of service providers, most of them cab drivers, and aims to train as many as 3,000 more by the year-end. Said Rajni Shekhari Sibbal, director, *, "The capacity building for service providers aims at teaching basic English as well as courtesy.''

With the capital expected to play host to thousands of foreign visitors next year, India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), in association with the tourism ministry, had launched a massive training programme for taxi/auto drivers and other service providers.

One of the three institutes roped in for this is HIPA. Manveen Kaur, course director, said the four-day course for 20-25 students focuses on basic language, history and culture, personality development and practice module. She further said the training had been designed to teach shorter English sentences as most service providers were either illiterate or school dropouts. "Most of them have picked up really well,'' she added.

As visitors are usually keen to know more about the city, cabbies will be informed about monuments and tourist spots across NCR. "They are trained enough to double up as guides now,'' said Kaur.

Birju Singh, who hails from Bihar, has been driving a taxi in Delhi for the past four years. "Earlier, people would laugh at the crude Hindi I spoke, now I can even drive around foreign tourists as I know English,'' he said, showing the certificate he received after completing the course.

Delhi is at its best behaviour to welcome the world next year. From cops to beggars, everyone is polishing up their table manners to be ideal hosts during the Commonwealth Games.

But one community doesn't seem to be bothered and worse, they hold the welcome boards.

The city's cab drivers are still on their infamous fleecing spree, cheating both residents and tourists alike. Even the premium radio cabs are no better!

Tall claims
The security claims of radio taxis came under the scanner in August last year when three women returning from a late-night party at Noida's Sector 50 were allegedly harassed by a drunk driver.

The women alleged that the cab driver was trying to drive them away from their destination. Similar complaints are rampant even today.

The cab owners, though, claim that the drivers are trained before being handed over the keys. "A three-day training module in good behaviour is mandatory for our drivers.

Under this, we teach them how to treat customers. We also check the antecedents of drivers before hiring them," said H S Chandok, director of Chanson radio cab service.

"Our taxis have panic buttons on the rear seat and if a customer feels unsafe, he or she can press it for immediate action.

Source: Mid-Day How safe are radio cabs?

* Taller doubts

With a hawkish eye on expenses, many BPOs have been asking operators to club multiple trips, reduce charges by 10-15 per cent, or in certain cases are opting for larger vehicles to optimise utilisation.

A CEO of a large BPO firm, with facilities in Noida, Gurgaon and Pune, told Business Line that it plans to reduce daily cab shifts from 67 to nearly 35. "Against the capacity of eight passengers, the average utilisation is less than four passengers. We plan to increase it to up to six passengers. It will reduce the number of trips and our overall cab requirement," he says.

Bleak situation
The Maharashtra Call Centre Chalak Malak Sanghatana (Association of Owners and Drivers of Call Centre) claims that the slump in the IT and BPO industry has dented business by nearly 50 per cent.

"But there is nothing we can do. IT and BPO companies are laying off workers as they do not have new projects in hand," its President, Mr Nana Kshirsagar, points out.

Peterson Cabs, which has a fleet of vehicles plying across the NCR, says it has taken a conscious decision to shift focus from the BPO business. "The call centres have got into a cost-cutting drive, and we are unable to offer our services below a certain cost," says Mr Stephen Peterson, who runs the service.

Even the business prospects from candidates campaigning during the upcoming elections, appear bleak. "The demand may pick up only to the extent of 1-2 per cent, that too, for just a month," feel vendors.

Corporate demand
The corporate demand for luxury vehicles has taken a bigger blow. "The call centre demand has fallen 10-20 per cent, but the demand for luxury vehicles is down by 60-70 per cent compared to last year," claims Mr Jaiprakash Dagar of Sunrise Travels.

As a result, most of the luxury cabs now remain stranded in garages.

"Paying the EMI has become a huge problem, especially for luxury cars. The Government needs to bail out transporters just like they bailed out Satyam," quips a cab owner.

The scheme is in the pattern of the one inaugurated in Mumbai in 2006 by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. It was initiated by the Mahanagar Gas Limited to encourage the use of CNG in the city.

After its introduction in the Capital, the scheme will be extended to the National Capital Region areas like Faridabad, Gurgaon, Sonepat, Panipat and Gautam Budh Nagar.

THE SCHEME

• Insurance cover of Rs 1.5 lakh to the family in case of death and graded compensation for partial or total responsibility
  
• Reimbursement of upto Rs 10,000 for medical expenditure in case of fracture or injury
  
• Rs 25,000 as children's education allowance for one school or college-going student

PAPERWORK

• The beneficiaries have to submit a copy of the FIR copy and in case of death, a death certificate.
  
• Necessary documents regarding permits and permissions.

• The NCR has around 2,50,000 CNG vehicles
  
• Nearly 400 cars convert to CNG every month
  
• There are 163 CNG stations in the Capital Delhi government is finalising land for 50 more.
  
• Incorporated in 1998 as a joint venture of GAIL (India) Ltd and BPCL along with the Delhi government, the IGL is the only CNG distributer in the city

Never take YADAV TAXI from Palam Vihar, and this is especially true for girls.

They could be offering you reasonable rates, but the owner and drivers are too indecent, and not at all well mannered - so I would strongly not patronize this cab service.

I had weird experience with them, and realized that these people will go stoop so low in their behaviour that there is not extent ....

Days after the Haryana govern ment issued eight new radio taxi contracts for the IT city, local taxi operators are fighting an advertising blitz, trying to outdo each other by reducing fares.

Till just a few weeks ago, it cost at least Rs 350 to travel from South City to the IGI Airport. Today, taxis charge between Rs 250 and Rs 300 for the same distance.

For the past fortnight or so, Gurgaon papers have also started looking fatter, for inserted in them are some four or five pamphlets every day, advertising rates and special features of different "taxi stands". "We have to keep the competition and market in mind," says Manoj Yadav, a taxi service provider based in South City I. "With the increase in number of taxi providers, prices are bound to come down further."

There has been little change in perkilometre rates - Rs 350-450 for 40 km or four hours (whichever comes first), and Rs 500-700 for 80 kms/8 hours. But the southward drive is seen in flat rates for frequently asked destinations, such as the IGI Airport, rail way stations, and main bus stands. And they are getting customers, too, in this city without any public transport to speak of, taxi operators say. "Radio cabs will work out to be more expensive - they charge Rs 15 per kilometer.

This will, hopefully, mean we will retain our business," says Bhagat Singh, owner of a taxi stand in Sushant Estate.

Dr G Prasan Kumar, head of Haryana State Transport Department's Finance Division, says it would be a win-win situation for all operators. Despite competition from local cabbies, the upcoming radio cabs will have enough business, he says. "The reason we gave out so many radio taxi contracts is safety. These cabs can be tracked down at any point of time."

But some cab owners remain apprehensive, Kartar Yadav, 30, in business for the past eight years in Sector 45, says: "We are bound to lose business once the radio cabs and the Metro comes in. With the government support and resources available to big taxi operators, small entrepreneurs like me will lose half our business."

What's interesting, taxis from Gurgaon to Delhi are much cheaper than those coming in from the Capital. Nizamuddin to Gurgaon, for instance, costs over Rs 450, though it's between Rs 350 and Rs 400 for the ride back.

Little wonder, Gurgaonites are laughing all the way to the taxi stand.

Delhi police officials say that call centre cabs come under the category of commercial vehicles and it is therefore difficult to keep a separate tab on them.

"We are planning to make call centre cabs a separate category and make sure that guidelines are issued for the drivers on a regular basis," Qamar Ahmed, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said.

Deepak Kapoor, editor of BPO News and an ex-board member of Call Center Association of India remarked: "A large number of taxis ply in NCR, then why are only call center cabs involved in mishaps?" Kapoor said that more that 5,000 cabs ferrying over two lakh call centre employees ply daily on NCR roads. "None of these cabs belong to the companies, but are hired from transport firms. Barring a few exceptions, the call centre companies don't really bother to check the exploitation of cab drivers by the transport company," Kapoor said.

A senior traffic police official said that most of the call centre cabs operate at night and it is difficult to monitor them owing to thin presence of patrolling staff. "These drivers inevitably drive rash to pick and drop staff on time," the officer said.

Kapoor said that a driver earns approximately Rs 4,000 a month and if he is not punctual enough, he is fined to the tune of Rs 500. "This forces them to drive fast. Moreover, barring a few exceptions, the drivers neither get proper rest nor are they given any incentives. Often we see drivers dozing off in parked cabs," he said.

Transport Department officials of Gurgaon-based Convergys call centre said that all cabs carry a sticker with the phone number of the transport head and people can complain against rash driving. "However, we rarely receive any calls," Manoj Verma, Transport Department head, Convergys, said. He added that security verifications are done on the drivers on a regular basis, but it's an internal process and is not done with the help of police.

Ankur Gupta, transport manager of Genpact call center in Gurgaon, also said that they rarely receive rash-driving complaints from the public. "When we do get a complaint, we warn the driver and also impose some fine on him. After three warnings, a driver is sacked," he said.

Cab record in 2007

• 1,654 call centre cabs challaned
  
• 197 drivers arrested
  
• 74 cabs impounded
  
• Licences of 28 drivers punched

These maxi cubs will operate between Faridabad, Gurgaon, Manesar, Chandigarh, Punchkula, kalka, kundli, Morni hills, Bahadurgarh and national capital region. Sources in the haryana state transport authority say's applications interested parties who could fulfill the requisite condition. February 20 is the last date to apply.

Source say that it might take some time to start the service as the pass through delhi and uttar pradesh to reach destinations in haryana. For this permission form the two neighboring states will have to be sought for routes permits.

HSTA officials feel the stations proposed to be covered by these special taxis have great potential for business. The fare structure for these cabs would be rs15 per km, winging charges of rs100 per hour, or part there of night charges will be 25 percent over and above the normal fare.

The minimum fleet size per licensee would be 50 cabs in the initial stage. The licensee can, however, add 25 more such cabs later on. The cabs will also have a fixed radio control room of the haryana transport department. The proposed cabs would be operated by private parties . the license seeking registered under their respective acts.