CNG cabs to hit Bengaluru roads by April-end

BENGALURU: The city will get its first

Compressed Natural Gas cab

by April-end.

Bengaluru-based Zib Cabs

will launch around 300

eco-friendly taxis

in the first phase and increase it to 1,000 in a few months.

"We’ve decided to run all our vehicles on CNG to provide affordable and environmental friendly rides," said Mohammed Mansoor, CEO, Zib Cabs, adding, "The fare will be lower than that of cab aggregators as the operational cost of CNG vehicles is less than that of

petrol or diesel vehicles

."

He said, "App-cabs charge more than Rs 1,200 for a ride between the airport and Electronics City. Our fare for the same distance would be between Rs 600 and Rs 700. We won’t impose any hidden charges, including surge pricing during peak hours.”

However, CNG availability remains an issue. GAIL Gas has set up refilling stations at two places, Laggere and Sunkadakatte. It plans to build four more in the next few weeks at Peenya, Bommasandra, Jigani and Bande Kodigehalli (on the alternative road to the airport via Hennur).

"We’ll expand our fleet once GAIL Gas increases the number of filling stations. A vehicle can travel up to 200km on a full tank,” said Mansoor.

He said an app for the cabs will be launched soon. Asked why he opted for CNG and not electric power, he said: "The initial cost of an electric vehicle is very high. Existing petrol vehicles can be easily converted to CNG at an affordable cost. It’s also environmental friendly.”

The city has 1.55 lakh taxis, mostly run on diesel and petrol. While most cab aggregators in Delhi have shifted from diesel to environment friendly CNG, Mumbai is also planning something similar.

Transport department officials said they could make CNG mandatory for taxis and autorickshaws once there are enough filling stations across the city.

Electric cabs

An increasing number of battery-operated cab firms now serve corporate firms to ferry employees from home to office. Charging infrastructure has been set up at major offices.

Bengaluru-based firm Lithium Urban Technology has been operating electric cabs to various corporate firms since 2015. It now plans to expand its current fleet of nearly 500 cabs. Another electric cab service named ‘rydS’ plans to provide 1,000 battery-run vehicles in the next few months to various firms in the IT and IT-enabled services and hospitality sectors. Another firm, Lynx Green Ventures, also runs electric cabs for corporates.

Another app-based aggregator

The city will have a new cab aggregator from Friday. Two cab drivers, Paramegowda and Raghu, are launching Public Taxi, an app-based aggregator that offers cabs and autorickshaw services.

A Public Taxi spokesperson said their rides would be 25% cheaper than that of major operators. “The cab fare will be Rs 4 per km and Rs 25 for the first 4km for autorickshaws. We’ll also offer discounts for the first three rides and for senior citizens and women passengers. We’ll also give discounts for cashless payment,” said a spokesperson.

Many app-based cab services rolled out over the past few years are struggling in the market dominated by Ola and Uber. Despite acquiring a licence from the transport department, Utoo cabs is no longer functional, while JDS-backed Namma TYGR has also gone also offline after the transport department seized three cabs for operating without a licence.

Founded by former Aircel owner C Sivasankaran in 2016, Utoo wound up operations last year-end and is now mulling serving corporate firms. Hi Cabs too closed down. Other cab services like Meru and Megha are largely restricted to ferrying airport passengers.


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