Call-taxi services or radio cabs have had a low profile entry and are now on the take off phase. Quality of service, comfort and security is what are making customers willing to pay higher

No one wants to be ‘taken for a ride’ when it comes to hiring a cab. This is what most of us wish: doorstep pick-up at the scheduled time, a decent chauffeur with a helpful attitude and an inclination for safe driving,

to pay only for the distance travelled without any shortchanging on the pretext of time of the day and part of the city, and easy payment options including that through a credit card. In a nutshell, we look for convenience, safety, security and comfort. And this customer requirement translates into the big business opportunity of Radio Cabs.

It has not been long since the Radio Cab business took off, and it is doing quite well. What’s more, there is a lot of room for new players all over the country. For instance, in Delhi alone, around 1,000 Radio Cabs are already criss-crossing the city. But by 2010, this number can rise to 20,000!

Based upon that, we did the math. Across the country, in the next 3 years, we are looking at a total market value of nothing less than Rs 7,210 Crore. And that is a conservative estimate!

The profile of customers using Radio Cabs is diverse. According to operators, a good part of their customers is in the 22-35 year age group. This includes those who are either just married, just started earning big or even those with multiple cars at home but hire cabs to avoid the hassle of parking and traffic. Others want a reliable service to take them to the airport at odd hours or a drop-back after late night parties.

This business is like a low-cost airline. Unless you reach critical mass, there is no great money. Rajiv K Vij, Easycabs

Then there are the corporate customers who fly in and out of cities on a regular basis. So, right outside Delhi airport, you can see a row of taxis waiting for the call, from a kiosk inside the arrival terminal. Even rail commuters have started calling on radio cabs of late.

Back end
It begins with a simple call from a customer that comes into the operations centre. The operator, who takes the call, feeds in the information of the caller into the software. Typically, cabs are located at multiple stands across the city. These are the hubs from where the cabs start and spread across the city as the day progresses. The tracking system monitors every cab in the fleet, and continually updates this on a screen. This is done using the GPRS based GPS system. Once the operator feeds in the information, the system takes over. It determines which free cabs is closest to the caller and calculates the time it would take to reach the caller. If you are scheduling pickup for later, the system only calculates the availability of a cab in the closest vicinity, and the operator does the scheduling. After this, either the system or the operator informs the caller the details of the cab – license plate number, driver’s name, wait time etc. At the chauffeur’s end, a hire request flashes on the screen of a device called MBT. All he needs is to do is press a button to confirm his availability, and inform the hub the time he would take to make it to the customer’s location.

Comments (1)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by Bhavendra Kumar Jha, July 12, 2008

Good one
Too good...excellent business sense..very astute.

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +0