Nagpur: Spelling revolution of the sort in city’s mode of transport, a battery of cool cab operators has jumped onto city streets with their driving machines.Suddenly there is a boom in the call cabs and taxi services in the city. However the city RTO is certainly aloof to the drastic change in the cab scenario. Unlike autorickshaws, which are now kept under strict regulations, these cabs run without any rule cap. Even there is not much to rely on these cabs as far safety of woman commuters are concerned.
These radio cabs or taxi services are good, prompt even if they are a bit costly, one can reach the Airport, Railway Station and Bus Stands at all odd hours or can be picked up from Airport, Railway Station or Bus Stands and dropped at home. Compared to an auto-rickshaw, this is pretty safe. However, with many crimes that have occurred in the past like the “Hyderabad techie gang-raped by cab drivers in luxury car” and “BPO girl rape and murder in Pune” are often seen in the news-media. These crimes prevent us from trusting the cab drivers, especially if the traveler is a lady. In today’s fast paced world, where girls and women work equally and hold very important corporate positions requiring them to travel to other cities and states. On many occasions they will have to rely only on such cool cabs or radio cabs. Since the private taxis or radio cabs have no control over them, these cabs fall under the most un-regulated sector. Therefore, frequent flyers especially women executives have to take or devise their own precautionary measures so that they are safe (mentally and physically).
Deputy Commissioner of Police Bharat Tangde said that the RTO must be giving them rules and regulations. However, private parties practically have no control over them. He added that one sure and safe way for women travelling alone is by clicking a picture of the cab/taxi on their mobile and sharing it to the nearest relative which upon reaching the desired destination can be deleted by both the parties, Or to start a conversation with a relative or friend and relaying information such as the number of the taxi, the name of the driver, the model of the car etc. Better still, storing the mobile number of friendly and trusted driver who can be called to pick or drop them.
According to Government of India regulations, all taxicabs are required to have a fare-meter installed. However, enforcement by authorities is lax and many cabs operate either without fare-meter or with defunct ones. In such cases, fare is decided by bargaining between the customer and the driver. Taxicabs face stiff competition from auto rickshaws, as it is in Nagpur city.
Many cab services advertise in newspapers and other social media too. Some of them are as Pooja Car Rentals, Jet Cabs 24×7, Swastik Tours And Travels, Cosy Cabs Travels, Mangalmay Travels, Rahul Travels, Orange City Travels, Eazy Cabs, Rishi Travels, Sona Travels, SOS Cabs, Sainath Travels, Bushar Tours & Travels, Sona Travels, Om Sai Ram Tours, Surco International Travels, Vishal Tour & Travels, Aditya Tours & Travels, Speed Cab Services, Shiv Shakti Tours & Travels, Krishna Car Rental, Krishna Car Rentals, Mahalaxmi Taxi Centre, Zebra Cabs and Krishna Car Rentals etc.
Cars such as Maruti Esteem, Maruti Omni, Mahindra Logan, Tata Indica and Tata Indigo are fairly popular among taxicab or Radio cab operators. The livery of the taxicabs or radio cabs/taxis in Nagpur used to have yellow-black livery while nowadays, many after private parties entered the fray, the colours have changed to attract modern and sophisticated clientele.
Radio Taxi market is expanding in India, so it is in the city too. Besides traditional taxi companies like Meru, Mega, Easy and Tab Cab, there are lots of new technology companies entering in this space (Olacabs, Taxi-for-sure and Uber are few of them).
A frequent client of Cool Cabs Jawahar Sampat in an exclusive interview with Nagpur Today said that he had a fracture in his left leg and could not ride his two-wheeler. However, since he had to go to office daily, he had availed the services of a cool cab. According to Sampat, the fare was pretty reasonable. He added that these cabs were very particular about the time of arrival and departure, which ensured that he was picked up and dropped at the right time.
