Touch and Go

TRAFFIC AUTHORITIES in Mumbai are instituting a policy by which taxis will not get a clearance certificate unless they have a panic button. So, if a passenger perceives danger from the driver, he or she can press it and the police will come and rescue them. The taxi drivers don’t like it. They have nothing against the concept itself, only that it comes at a cost. Their union this week said that they couldn’t do it; instead, in a letter, told the government they should give the funds for installing these buttons. They also had a more compelling argument—these buttons are essen­tially useless.

For instance, taxis of aggregators like Uber and Ola do have this feature. As far back as 2015, Uber announced this for India and it even made it to international news with The Guardian then writing: “The San Francisco-based taxi alternative company says it will launch a ‘panic button’ in its ride-hailing app that allows riders to notify the police in case of an emergency…” And seven years later, the Indian Express did a story in which its reporter took 50 Uber rides in Delhi over a month to check on panic buttons. They found: “Of the 50 Uber cabs, only seven had active panic buttons. In five of these seven, pressing the button did not result in follow-up action from the Delhi Police despite a wait of 20 minutes. In 43 cabs, 29 did not have panic buttons at all.”

Think now from a taxi driver’s point of view. He is in a sunset sector where the business has been taken away by app-driven cabs. He is no criminal and is being made to pay for a service that does not benefit him. Plus, it is a service that will not be real in any case, a policy meaningless to all parties concerned with the driver having to foot the bill. With Ola and Uber, they at least say they have a team monitoring the button when pressed but, according to the union, even that is not present in their case.

The government wants to do it because it shows that the state cares about protecting its citizens, but does it do anything beyond that? The backend is allowed to continue in the black hole of chaos. The necessary condition for such a panic button is immediate police response with a cop on the tail within minutes. Does anyone in India believe that can happen? If your car is stolen and you go to a police station, their first instinct is to postpone taking the complaint. If there is a thief in your home and you call the actual police helpline, there is no certainty of a saviour on the horizon. If you have influence and manage to exert it, then the levers move. Without reliable police response time, perhaps the only value of a panic button is deterrence or the fear that it works on the driver about to commit a crime. But how long does it take to see through that?

About The Author

Madhavankutty Pillai

Madhavankutty Pillai has no specialisations whatsoever. He is among the last of the generalists. And also Open chief of bureau, Mumbai  

•