A few years from now, the incessant haggling on the phone a customer has to undergo to direct a call taxi driver to the pick up point may become a thing of the past, claim founders of Taxiforsure, an online taxi booking service.
Available on Android and iOS platforms, the service was launched in Chennai this week, enabling users to book a call taxi by just a tap on their smartphones.
The application based service which has been created by a Bangalore-based IIM duo, is already available in Bangalore and Delhi NCR and entered the Chennai market this week.
“A taxi user with a smartphone can already see the distance travelled, routes available, traffic intensity and estimated time on arrival, through various navigation apps available. What we have done is we have tied up with several taxi drivers and have provided them too with the technology and have taken the taxi experience a step further by allowing customers to not only book taxis online, but also to monitor each and every aspect of the booking” says Aprameya Radhakrishna, the co-founder of Taxiforsure.
The online platform, which was launched two years ago in Bangalore, has garnered over 2,000 taxi partnerships till now and over 600 in Delhi NCR, where it was recently launched. The platform sees about 3000 transactions a day, claims Aprameya.
“Through the app, the customer will be able to view how many taxis are there in the vicinity and once booking is done, he will also be able to monitor where the taxi is, through GPS. The drivers too have been given Android based phones,” adds Aprameya. The company had conducted a trial for over three weeks in Chennai and as of now, has partnered with about 50 taxi drivers in the city.
The founders, however, claim that this will be increased to about 500 in six months. The tariff will be in line with the market rates charged by other call taxi companies and the service will be launched in 15 more cities by 2015, claims Aprameya.