Cheaper radio taxis in city soon

GURGAON: By next week, you can expect a cheaper ride — as low as Rs 10 per kilometre — on radio taxis in the city. Fitted with safety features like global positioning system (GPS) and panic buttons, as many as 47 such radio taxis will hit the city’s roads in the next few days.
The radio taxi service, Super Cabz, will be flagged off on October 17 and will start its 24x7 service from midnight.Talking about the USP of the service, Ankit Raghav, founder and CEO of the company, informed that apart from the latest safety gadgets, commuters will also have a comfortable ride with leather seat covers fitted in the Indica cars.
Newspapers, magazines, city maps and toiletries like napkins, sickness bags, umbrellas, ice boxes and hand sanitizers will also be provided to the users of this service. Commuters can also make their payments by credit cards or debit cards with the help of EDC machines installed in the cabs. In order to strengthen the inter- as well as intra-city transport system, the state transport department has proposed to grant contract carriage permits to radio taxis in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Panchkula. While two firms each applied for Faridabad and Panchkula, the maximum number of applications — seven — were received for Gurgaon.
In all, these operators have proposed to run 490 cabs in the economy, luxury and super luxury segments. The new radio service will be the first such private player to start the service in Gurgaon. According to Raghav, unlike many other taxi services operating in Delhi, which make commuters to pay extra in addition to the fare for making a booking — Rs 50 — or for providing services like airconditioning or extra luggage, his clients will have to pay a flat Rs 10 per kilometre.
“We have been sanctioned 100-odd taxis by the department, so the rest of the lot will be made available within the next one month. Besides that, we are also planning to introduce around 500 taxis in the next six to seven months. We will approach the state transport department for this upgradation later,” Raghav added.
A state-of-the-art control room has been set up in Palam Vihar in Gurgaon where a team of 18 employees will take care of its smooth functioning. The driver’s details will be pasted inside the cabs. In case the commuters face any problem, they can press the panic button and the company’s field officers will then contact them to resolve the issue. Of the 490 radio taxis, 330 are in the economy category which could be AC or non-AC, and 90 of them will be in the luxury category having mid-segment sedans. The fares for the economy, luxury and super luxury have been kept at Rs 10, 20 and 30 per kilometre, respectively. The cabs will operate within 50 kilometres of Gurgaon.