Cab service meets red tape speed breakers

After assessing a potential market for the growth for radio taxis,the group had launched the cabs on August 12. The uniqueness of the service is point-to-point charging at a rate of Rs 15 per km fixed by the state government. Like all radio taxis,these cabs will have the facility of GPRS controlling and could trace the history of each journey.

The service comes at a time when the state government is grappling to phase out the pre-1993 commercial vehicles to save environmental degradation.

Several similar services had been launched earlier but were unsuccessful. For instance,Blue Arrows was a bit of a pinch for the poor and middle class pockets. It was followed by the launch of Kolkata Cabs.

Though it saw a decent demand,it failed to augment its fleet,resulting in delayed response to the commuter demands. Now comes the Mega Cabs,with an initial investment of Rs 10 crore,eyeing the city market.

Binod Mishra,general manager-fleet manager of Mega Cabs,said: “We have started with a soft launch. After understanding the market demand we will increase the number and hope to have at least 500 taxis within the next six months. Sometimes people complain that they cannot at times avail the facility. This is because the number of radio taxis plying are less.”

“From August 12,we are dealing with 100 calls per day. Of these,400 to 500 are inquiry calls. So far,we are catering to 200 rides per day. We hope state government allows us to have parking slots at airport and railway stations,” he added.