Ever since I have been in Goa, back in the 90s and early 00s, the local taxi situation has become a kind of exemplary case for me. And when in the Netherlands, the governemnt, bent on putting 'the magic of the market' to work, deregulated the taxi market, this resulted in Amsterdam in taxi wars, hundreds of taxi drivers losing their old age pension (their license, purchased for a lakh Guilders and intended for resale on retirement, became worthless overnight), a collapse of the quality of the service, as hundred inexperienced drivers hit the road with ramshackle vehicles, the transformation of the self-serving taxi unions into full-fledged mafias, and hardly anything has improved ever since, despite an unbelievable of ad-hoc, piecemeal remedial ordinances being enacted.
The reason: unbridled competition, putting many more taxis on the road than needed, and fares not falling but rising, steeply, as cabbies try to milk out customers to the max when ever they get one. This is why I said that Amsterdam taxis were suffering from the 'Goa syndrome' ...
In Firenze (Italy) where I live now, taxis are strictly regulated, fares set by the authorities (after negotiations with the taxi unions), taximeters mandatory and regularly checked, and the whole branch legally constituted as a public service, on par with the rest of municipal transit system. Of course, this does not prevent the profession hosting a number of 'cow-boys', but on the whole the service is correct - and affordable.
Dunno is something like that is possible in Goa. Cheers, p+7D!
