Private taxi operators fleece travellers at Vijayawada Airport

Vijayawada: A large group of private taxi operators stationed at Vijayawada Airport at Gannavaram have been fleecing the air travellers by not allowing the app-based services like Ola and Uber.

In 2019, a few months after the YCP government came to power, the app-based services like Ola and Uber were discontinued at Gannavaram airport. Passengers, since then, are facing untold hardships. Services like Ola and Uber are being used to drop-off passengers at the airport. However, passengers landing in the Gannavaram airport are forced to walk for one kilometre to the perimeter of the airport to get into an app-based cab. It is very difficult for travellers to walk for a kilometre with the luggage. Taking advantage of this situation, private tax operators are fleecing travellers.

Perhaps Vijayawada airport is the only airport across the world which is without app-based cab services. A monopoly over airport taxi services has been granted to someone close to the erstwhile ruling government, it is said.

Nalamothu Chakravarti, an activist belonging to Centre for Liberty, said that this flawed policy that has been in effect for the last five years must go. Not having an app-based taxi service in Gannavaram airport leaves an image of backwardness on the minds of international and domestic travellers visiting Vijayawada.

Chakravarti appealed to Chief Minister-elect N Chandrababu Naidu to provide a dedicated parking area within the airport premises for app-based taxis similar to the one at Shamshabad airport. The taxi pick-up area must be at a short walking distance in order to not inconvenience the travellers.