Taxi service
If I, as a mere foreigner, may add my two-pennyworth to the debate on the traffic chaos, I must point out that most developed nations have found a way of allowing people to have cars but leave them at home for most journeys - by providing a good and safe transport system for commuting to work and getting the children to school. However, in that case, rather a lot of people might be persuaded to have no car at all - if only there were a reliable taxi service.
About 9 months ago, my excellent Bagha (i.e. British) club emailed all its members advising us that we must be careful travelling by rickshaw as there had been some nasty incidents, even in the 'Republic of Gulshan'. The names and telephone numbers were given to us of three reputable taxi companies - Anudip, Navana and Orion.
Last Thursday I got distracted by something and forgot I needed to be at an iftar party. It was my driver's day off and there was no way I could get there in time by rickshaw. I phoned all 3 numbers and was informed by those answering each that this was not the right number for a taxi service. I arrived by rickshaw - very late…
An American friend, whose visiting parents had to catch an early flight from the airport recently, got a taxi driver to sleep the night at his residence in order to make sure they got there!
Eight years ago. I discovered that a taxi was not available to take me (then car-less) to the airport for my 7.30 am flight back to the UK because (so it was explained to me) they did not start work until 8.00am! A nice man from Emirates sorted that out for me. I could not believe my ears……..
Running an efficient taxi service, so that people can BOOK a taxi ahead of time and be confident it will turn up, is not rocket science. Other countries can do it, even poor ones, so what's the blockage in this dear country? I can understand that some customers can behave badly and be unreliable but, surely, a bright young person on the phone in a taxi office, with a computer and a register of customers, with the names and phone numbers of 'goodies' and 'baddies', should be able to cope with that - after a few months. Maybe there should be a warning message on the answer-phone about this before the operator answers so that 'Don't mess with us' is clearly conveyed….
Please can the amazing Bangladeshi creativeness be applied to this problem to sort it out? Why has the taxi service been allowed to descend into chaos? There is money to be made by being reliable - and not changing telephone numbers! If any of your readers has discovered a reliable taxi service, however small, that your readers can book ahead, would you do us all a great service by informing us?
Or maybe one of your journalists can do some fact-finding research?
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