Rain, Ramzan result in airport taxi crunch at Mumbai airport

The holy month of Ramzan and the monsoon are causing a shortage of pre-paid black and yellow (B &Y) cabs at the Santa Cruz terminal of Mumbai airport.  As the cabbies get busy with their iftaaris in the evening there are very few B&Ys in the evenings and the passengers have to wait for 10-15 minutes to get one between 7.30pm to 11.30pm.

On Thursday evening, the passengers at the arrival terminals 1A and 1B of airport at Santacruz had to stand in long queues for 10-15 minutes to get a pre-paid B &Y. 

“I came from Delhi now and took a pre-paid cab voucher for a B &Y cab at 10.45pm,” said Akaash Anand (30), a chartered accountant from Kandivli.  “I saw many cool cabs. But they made me wait for a B &Y cab. I had to wait for nearly 15 minutes,” he said.  Anand got a cab only at 11pm and was able to leave for Kandivli.

This is not an isolated incident, as passengers are encountering this problem every evening since the last one week. “This problem is because there are cabbies who go to the parking lot to break their fast in the evening as they are doing rozas on account of Ramzan. While some do their iftaaris after 7.30pm, some leave the parking lot only after 11pm,” said Kanhaiya Singh, president, Mumbai Airport Taxi Rickshaw Union (MATRU).

 “Moreover, there are 250 B &Y cabs available at the pickup point. The remaining 250 cabs are parked near the western express highway.  As most of the cabs in the parking lot are not available, those parked near the highway take at least 10 minutes to reach the airport in the evening due to heavy traffic,” Singh added.

The Sahar airport is not facing the same problem as the 250 cabs there are parked at the pick-up point near the arrival terminal.
The spokesperson for Mumbai International Airport Limited was unavailable for comments.