[creative420]

Has anyone used Olacabs here?

I did. They've got a cool mobile app to book a cab. But it's in beta version at the moment I guess. On two occasions in Bangalore, I just had to press the icon on the app and the cab arrived in 10 mins. (It's really essential if you're pub-hopping/house-party-hopping in bangalore, that you get your cab soon.) But on one occasion my booking was cancelled out because these guys usually have two drivers running a car for 12 hours each.

The cars are new and swanky.

Any other cab service (90-100% reliable) you guys would recommend in Bangalore? Especially for point-to-point city transfer?

[girishglg]

Originally Posted by creative420

Any other cab service (90-100% reliable) you guys would recommend in Bangalore? Especially for point-to-point city transfer?

Have used Fast Track city taxi for a long time now for point to point or drops to railway station / airport etc and found it 100% reliable till now.

The other advantage is that they are the only big size operators who run Indicas, as the per km charge is Rs.14 vs Rs.17.5 for Logan etc with Meru.

So if there are just 2-3 passengers, then it is very cost effective. Their number is 08028889999

[benzbeemers]

Call Autoriksha Service-

This service is available in Pune and Bangalore for now and it is for 24x7
Pune - 02066111111
Bangalore - 8050661111

Source - www.autowale.in

Some key features-

• 24 x 7 service over the phone so you can call any time of the day or night
• Use of existing infrastructure and auto-rickshaws to avoid further adding to traffic problems in the city
• Dedicated rickshaw fleet partnered with Autowale plying the roads across different areas
• Training for Auto Rickshaw drivers to promote safety, courtesy and friendly service
• Location tracking devices installed on rickshaws
• Convenient billing & payment options for regular commuters and recurring trips
• Fares and payment as per RTA approved tariffs
• Fleet operates across PMC & PCMC areas of Pune and Bangalore City

This is an excellent service for women and elderly. So many of us have trouble getting autos drivers ply our destinations.

Such an organized service will benifit everyone and should be rolled out in all the cities which have metered autos.

[radek]

Two times I visited Mumbai, I tried both Meru and Tab cab. Experience is not good with either of these. Meru cab broke down on the way. Luckily a local colleague travelling same route picked me up.

Second time I booked Tab cab. Though booked well in advance, cab didn't turn up. As I was in Chakala, they arranged an alternative cab from International Airport. But it arrived 45 minutes late than my original pick-up instruction. Funny thing is, they did not realise that cab didn't arrived at my location till I called them.

Next time I will probably try local Rickshaw - Taxi combination.

[rkw]

Have tried Meru & Tab on a no. of occassions & both have given good service. Now a days, I go with Tab since they have a very huge fleet, in fact the largest fleet in Mumbai (with 4000 cabs by Dec 12) and so easy to get even in short notices. Additionally, they have also introduced Tab Gold with SX4 cars and some extra features. Not much difference in rates.
Btw, Meru too has come up with car rentals / inter city travel etc. with Meru plus.

[girishglg]

Recently had called up Ola cabs for an airport pickup on 24th Nov at 9 PM under their AIRPORT500 offer of 500 bucks to any part of the city but was told by the operator that this was valid for a limited number of customers every day and the quota for the day was exhausted

Then tried taxiforsure which had an offer of Rs.10 per km flat for airport pickups. Was confirmed the booking. However my FIL, the actual traveller got an confirmation call and was informed that he has to pay Rs.630 inclusive of toll and parking for the trip. This was not told earlier while booking.

Eventually cancelled this one too and went for a local operator (Deepam cabs) who picked up at Rs.400 flat!

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by creative420

Has anyone used Olacabs here?

Originally Posted by girishglg

Have used Fast Track city taxi for a long time now for point to point or drops to railway station / airport etc and found it 100% reliable till now.

Used Ola Cabs twice on Friday, to go to office from home ~830 in the morning and then in the evening to go to Majestic from MG Road. Biggest advantage - you can see the cabs in the vicinity through the app and then book. Also, as you dont have to specify the destination whilst booking, the cab turns up. Many other radio cabs turn down requests for short distance (< 10 kms) especially in the evenings when they know they can get customers for longer distances. Best part, you can also track the movement of the cab from the time you book it till it reaches you. So no more of calling the driver and listen to "10 mins away, stuck in traffic, tyre puncture, road block" and other usual excuses for being late

Again called Ola this morning around 630 AM (I was on a bus to Bangalore from Goa) and wanted a cab to pick me up at Majestic by 7 AM. Called their customer service to be told no cabs are available. Called Fast Track and could get a cab at the desired time - they have a much bigger fleet and hence easier to get cabs, esp if you want to book a cab for pick up at a stipulated time at a designated pick up location. Ola, I guess is better, if you need a cab immediately and you can use their app to track and book a cab.

Originally Posted by girishglg

Eventually cancelled this one too and went for a local operator (Deepam cabs) who picked up at Rs.400 flat!

I am a fan of Deepam and have used them on several counts for airport pick ups - highly effective at 400 bucks when you are not travelling on work and hence paying 1000 bucks for an Airport cab pinches. Yeah, they have run down non AC Indicas but it is a steal at 400 bucks one way !

[the.city]

Chennai specific rant --

Has anyone noticed that Fasttrack service is on a rapid decline. I've using them for several years now. They were good - always on time, always available, well behaved drivers, clean/comfortable vehicles.

Now, vehicles are always dirty, increasingly late, rash driving & most importantly - belligerent drivers. They've started acting like the auto drivers of Chennai. Constantly crying about extra money for anything that comes their mind. Past two occasions, the taxi guy asked for extra money - one for "airport drop charge" = which is total bull$#&*. The first ten mins are free - that's enough time to drop me and get out of airport. Second because he said his meter is not updated to the latest rates. Another *&^@%# claim - why should I pay more for something he didn't do. He should get his meter updated to get the correct amount. Also, how do I even know if his claim is correct. He may have updated the meter and just squeezing more out of me.

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by the.city

....
Now, vehicles are always dirty, increasingly late, rash driving & most importantly - belligerent drivers. They've started acting like the auto drivers of Chennai. Constantly crying about extra money for anything that comes their mind. Past two occasions, the taxi guy asked for extra money - one for "airport drop charge" = which is total bull$#&*. The first ten mins are free - that's enough time to drop me and get out of airport. Second because he said his meter is not updated to the latest rates. Another *&^@%# claim - why should I pay more for something he didn't do. He should get his meter updated to get the correct amount. Also, how do I even know if his claim is correct. He may have updated the meter and just squeezing more out of me.

I am a regular user of Fast Track and now recently, I am facing these problems. Once he told the same story - additional charge for air port due to entry toll. Anyhow I did'nt pay. Now last week, I booked a Indica, but Swift Dzire turned out. I was happy, but I know fare is higher than Indica. Then he told I can adjust the fare meter. But still the figure was higher than normal. so I bargained and gave him 50 bucks less than the fare.

[arjab]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

I am a regular user of Fast Track and now recently, I am facing these problems.

Very true. Fast Track's "track record" - pun intended - is going downhill steadily without Hill Desecent Control.
On a more optimistic note: I happened to try MillionDots and NTL Cabs the last couple of times in Chennai and was very satisfied with their service and punctuality. These cabs also have a card swipe facility as well as GPS in all their vehicles, and the fare is the same as the Fast Track one's.

[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by arjab

Very true. Fast Track's "track record" - pun intended - is going downhill steadily without Hill Desecent Control.
On a more optimistic note: I happened to try MillionDots and NTL Cabs the last couple of times in Chennai and was very satisfied with their service and punctuality. These cabs also have a card swipe facility as well as GPS in all their vehicles, and the fare is the same as the Fast Track one's.

One of the biggest advantage of Fast Track is the availability of cab. With close to 4000 cabs? they are the biggest fleet in owners in chennai. I have used them almost in every odd and busy time. Give them some 2 to 3 hours notice, you are sure to get a cab.
But I know the quality of cabs are not so good. But anyway i doubt NTL and MD will have the same quality after a year of operation. But since they are using Liva and Figo, I guess they should be in a better position only. Also I understand they charge Rs.17 per km aganist Rs.15 in Fast track's Indica.

[girishglg]

Posting my first experience of using the services of Autowale - the call autoriksha service.

My friend had to travel to his home in the evening and since it is pretty difficult to hail a rick on the road at that time, tried calling Autowale. Some highlights-

• The enitre booking process was very similar to a call taxi service
• Got an SMS stating that the auto booking confirmation will be given 1 hour before the journey time.
• Within the hour, got a call from the rick driver who was assigned this trip
• He turned up promptly ten mins before the scheduled time
• My friend told that the driver took exactly as much as the meter showed up
• A convenience fee of Rs.20 is charged for every booking that has to be handed over to the rick driver
• The driver said that they are paid an amount every month by autowale for signing up
• At present the service is quite active in South Bangalore as per the driver and spreading to other parts of the city
• Also their credentials and DL original is with Autowale as a security

Overall very happy with the first call and service and as a satisfied customer my friend has passed on the info to all his folks.

Call Autoriksha Service- Autowale

This service is available in Pune and Bangalore for now and its 24x7
Pune - 02066111111
Bangalore - 8050661111

Source - www.autowale.in

[sandeepmohan]

Cab Company : Taxiforsure

I was traveling from Delhi to Bangalore by the Rajdhani with my family. As usual, we had a ton of luggage. My regular provider Roman Taxi (Not a call Taxi based service) was unable to send a cab to the train station as there is a mafia being run at city station. The train station cabs fellas create a problem for cab service providers who come to receive their clients at the station. How true this is, is something I do not know. Roman Taxi refused to come in to the station to receive me. They offered to pick me just outside the main entrance. I was okay with this as I was anyways going to hire help for all my luggage. I had to eventually drop booking my cab with Roman Taxi as they had only Indica's on the morning I was arriving. The sole Maruti van driver was out sick (the usual excuse) and 6 bags were not going to fit in a Indica even with a roof carrier as there were 4 pax. So now what? I was twiddling my thumbs while the train was to enter Secunderabad station the previous evening. Then, I suddenly remembered reading about taxiforsure.com in Forbes. Got on to the internet and called them up. They were providing me a Logan for Rs. 350 from City station to Cox Town which is where I live. There was catch though. Only two bags are allowed in the boot after which every additional bag will be charged Rs. 50. The use of the roof carrier another Rs. 50. Things started to look expensive already. Though I could deal with the additional cost, I was more interested in having a cab ready for the family to travel home in some comfort and so that I don't have to end up haggling with the train station cabs. I confirmed my booking with taxiforsure. Things started to look bleak from the moment I was done with my booking. No sms conformation was sent. I was also told that driver information will be sent one hour prior to the pick up time. There was hope but as with everything that operates in Bangalore, this confirmation never arrived too. There was still some hope left that my information would have been passed to the cab and that I would eventually get a call. None of that happened. I called taxiforsure to check on my cab while my train was passing through Yeswantapur train station. They had no record of my booking. Wonderful. I thanked them for their very prompt service, hung up and braced myself for some haggling. Guess what, I did not really have to struggle or haggle to get a cab from the station. I found a nice chap who had a Maruti van and who was willing to take us home for Rs. 500 bucks flat. Though the condition of the cab was terrible, we were in the comfort of our home in 20minutes. After a 34 hour train journey, thats all you care about. So there you go. I know taxiforsure has worked for most, it just did not work for me and I doubt if I am ever going to give them a call again. This could also be a city specific issue. In my experience of living in a couple of cities, Bangalore has to be the worst for service. There is simply zero/false commitment in this city and folk kinda like to operate this way. Not good for Bangalore. Though the city offered me a career, thats just beside the point.

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Cab Company : Taxiforsure

I know taxiforsure has worked for most, it just did not work for me and I doubt if I am ever going to give them a call again..

I used taxiforsure last week and did not have a very good experience either. Used them as they had an offer of 10 rs per km for airport pick up and drop which was ~40% cheaper than the airport cabs. Made a booking on their website and got a call shortly to confirm the booking. The operator mentioned the cost as INR 730 whereas it should be INR 550 under the offer that I chose. When I mentioned that the website talked of this offer, he wanted to know if I wanted to make use of the offer. Well, why else would one click on that link and book on their website !

Got a confirmation and was informed that the driver details would be sent by SMS. None came but I got a call ~ 60 mins before the pick up time to confirm he would come. SMS eventually came but had a different driver number. Upon landing, called the guy and eventually spotted him. Was a run down beaten bruised Indica with no sticker of Taxi FOr Sure. Learnt that the cab was used as a call centre vehicle for an MNC bank for 5 years and because of their vehicle replacement policy, the driver could not renew his term and hence enrolled with Taxi For Sure !! Well, not the best policy for a company to induct cabs. The car rattled and squeaked throughout. Driving was very indisciplined; the driver was on the phone for most part of the journey chatting with his friends. Was eventually dropped home in one piece. Learnt from the driver that most of Taxi For Sure's cabs are similar in nature - discarded by call centres / companies as they are over 3/5 years old !!! And if this driver is an indication of their average driver profile, it doesnt look good at all !

Will I take them again - NO. Deepam Cabs offers similar service at INR 400 flat, instead of Taxi For Sure.

[Vid6639]

That is the problem with taxiforsure. They don't have their own fleet. Any guy can become a taxiforsure cab driver.

Some of them don't even have meters and calculate from the trip meter.