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A German tourist faced harassment from local taxi drivers in Goa after booking an app-based cab for travel, reigniting the debate over the long-standing conflict between traditional taxi operators and app-based services in the coastal state. The viral video showed tourists in Goa forced to trudge a distance until they can catch a ride with GoaMiles. A German travel influencer, Alex Welder, faced the brunt in Patnem. He claimed that a rickshaw driver demanded Rs 500 for a ride, while the app charged him Rs 300 for the same route. According to Welder, local rickshaw operators followed him and his companion, a woman, in a harrowing situation that the German described as a “bit weird”. “They wanted Rs 500 for the tuk-tuk ride, and we ordered a cab from GoaMiles for Rs 300. I think the locals here have a big problem,” he said. At one point, their GoaMiles driver reportedly asked the tourists to cover the vehicle’s number plate, fearing that local taxi and rickshaw operators were filming them. In the video, Welder can be heard asking the driver, “What’s the problem with them?” “Anytime we say we are ordering from GoaMiles, they say ‘it’s not allowed here’, but you can actually order the cab on the app, so obviously it is allowed,” said Welder. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Alexander Welder (@alexweldertravels) The GoaMiles cab was stopped by police a short distance later, making the matters worse. Welder said that he could not understand what was going on, but mentioned that the GoaMiles taxi driver was charged Rs 500 by police. “I can understand the issue that people have with ride-sharing apps pretty much undercutting the local prices. Eventually, I paid the Rs 500 fine for the driver, and maybe someone can help me understand what was going on. That situation obviously doesn’t make any sense,” said Welder. This isn’t the first instance of tourists facing trouble while using a GoaMiles cab. In recent months, several videos have surfaced showing domestic tourists complaining about intimidation and aggressive behaviour by local taxi operators. On Oct 2, Shreya Agarwal, a visual designer from Mumbai, was forced to drag suitcases and heavy bags for nearly 1km in Varca to reach a taxi that she booked on GoaMiles. The GoaMiles driver refused to come to the gate of the resort operated by a large chain over fears of being beaten up. The ongoing tussle between Goa’s traditional taxi operators and app-based services like GoaMiles is starting to dent the state’s tourism image, according to hoteliers, visitors, and industry observers. “The Goa taxi mafia will destroy the tourism industry there, one day at a time,” remarked UK-based content creator Alex Wanders.
