Kochi: Online cabs to resume service

Kochi: There is good news for commuters arriving at Ernakulam Junction and Town railway stations as online cab services from these stations are set to resume from this weekend onwards.

“Following tender proceedings, Xen Cabs have been given the rights to operate online cab hailing services from the stations for three months,” said S. Ajay Kaushik, senior divisional commercial manager, Thiruva-nanthapuram division.

Major players like Uber and Ola showed no interest to operate out of the stations this time over.

Both the stations had witnessed massive protests by traditional auto and taxi drivers a couple of months ago against the railways allowing cab aggregators to pick commuters from inside the stations.

“The issues raised by traditional drivers were resolved amicably,” railway sources said. “The rights were doled out for a short period to assess the ground situation there. We’ll again invite bids from interested parties to operate for three years again after the initial three-month period.”

The commercial wing of the Thiruvananthapuram division floated tender for operation of cab aggregator service from Thiruvananthapuram Central, Ernakulam Junction, Ernakulam North, Kochuveli, Kazhakoottam, Tripunithura, Aluva and Thrissur.

“The Thrissur-based Xen Cabs was also given the rights to operate out of Aluva and Thrissur stations for three years. We’ve opened the bids for rest of the stations today but none participated. We’ll initiate the tender proceedings again after holding a meeting with the major cab aggregators next week,” the senior DCM said.

Meanwhile, the prepaid auto counter at the eastern entrance of the Ernakulam South station, operated by the city police, has resumed functioning.

There were charges of the auto drivers charging exorbitant rates from commuters with the pre-paid counter remaining closed for months altogether.

“Now the counter functions from 8 am to 6 pm,” a police official said.