[girishglg]

Recent experience with Cell cabs (60609090) as needed to return from Majestic bus stand to home and didn't want to haggle with the auto guys at night.

Called Cell cabs at short notice of just an hour earlier to the pickup time. Was confirmed booking and then co-ordinated with the cab driver for the pickup based on the bus arrival.

The cab arrived on time (Indica since it was just 2 of us without any luggage) and it was a new car and well kept one at that though generally they have many run down Indigos.

Fare was Rs.150 for 5 kms and 14/15 for Indica/ Indigo. Overall a decent experience since using their service after a very long time as have been using Fast track more often.

A point to note that had called Ola before calling Cell Cabs and was told that they were all booked. Had this experience many times till now. Cell cabs may be old but they seem to have a well oiled machinery and a large fleet to cater to the demand.

[binaiks]

Had an experience with CelCabs as well as Olacabs over this month.

Needed a cab late in the night (0200hrs) when returning from Mysore. I needed a pick-up from Mysore road Satellite bus station. I called up Celcabs for the purpose - they confirmed the booking immediately, and got details of the cab in about 30 minutes. I slept during the journey and forgot to call up the cab guy during the journey - worried at not getting a call, he called me up at around 0210 in the morning. I was still in the bus - he quickly confirmed my pick-up location, and reached there about 5 minutes after I reached. The cab was slightly old (an Indica), but was maintained above average. He drove really well. He charged according to the kilometres travelled, and issued a bill.
Overall, I liked the service. Had recently used them in Cochin as well - that appeared a bill dis-organised, but the service was good there as well.

Sometime last week, used OlaCabs. I had to reach Kalasipalayam at 11.30 in the night to catch a bus to go home. The bus did not have a Madiwala pick-up, and hence had to go there. Booked a cab online - got an SMS and e-mail confirmation in about 10 minutes. I kept tracking the cab online - they allotted a cab at around 2200hrs (2230hrs pickup). I got an SMS with the drivers' number as well.

The driver called up immediately and confirmed my address. The cab was at home by 2220hrs (I got an SMS saying my cab is waiting outside!!). I had booked an Indica, and an Indigo turned up instead. But I was charged for the Indica only. Fare was calculated using their app - it turned out to Rs. 202 for a 12km ride. Has Ola reduced their rates recently?? I vaguely remember the rates to be around Rs. 21 per km. This one was Rs. 150 for 8kms and then Rs. 13/km!!

Overall, I'd recommend both CelCabs and OlaCabs.

[balajird]

I used "Green Cabs" at Hyderabad this month and will never choose them again, I booked for an Innova / Xylo, got an Innova allocated which is pathetic in condition, the interiors were below average, the AC sucked big time, we were sweating inside the cab with the lack of cold air. We had to roll down the windows to Hot summer wind which was better than the AC. I will NOT recommend Green cabs to anyone.

P.S - They did gave a 10% discount on the fare for which the driver cried stating that they will cut that amount from his salary and hence please dont deduct which according to me is not fair. :(

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Had an experience with CelCabs as well as Olacabs over this month.

Has Ola reduced their rates recently?? I vaguely remember the rates to be around Rs. 21 per km. This one was Rs. 150 for 8kms and then Rs. 13/km!!

Yes, Ola has slashed their rates by ~20% or so last month - got an email to this effect some time back. Generally their service is the best in Bangalore, though you do have one-off cancellations in the last minute by them.

[vivriti]

Been a frequent user of Fasttrack in Chennai. Overall good service. The strong point is availability of vehicles.

Had a couple of negative experiences. Once when the vehicle was not available during the evening rush hour and they informed only 15 minutes before schedule. Other was when there was an early morning railway station drop and the meter racked up a high rate. The driver claimed night charges but the rate didn't seem right. Wanted to complain after returning but somehow didn't do it.

The cabs are not so clean nowadays as others have mentioned. The last time I called one, a cab from Bharathi showed up. Learnt that Bharathi has been taken over by Fasttrack and they now dominate the scene.

A nephew of mine is a regular with NTL and I plan to check them out the next time.

[girishglg]

Recently tried hailing a call taxi during a rainy evening in Blr. Called up all the major operators for a cab in the next one hour such as Fast Track, Meru, Ola, Celcabs, SPOT.

But none had any vehicle available and did not commit any time except for Fast Track who promised a cab after over two hours from the current time.

Was thoroughly disappointed and had to take a rickshaw at double the meter charge which was actually higher than the taxi fare.

Lesson learnt do not expect a cab on a rainy day in Bangalore or be the weather man and predict rain and book a cab half a day in advance

On another note, Fast Track had started charging Rs.17 per km for all varieties of cars such as Indica or Indigo/ Logan. This was a ripoff for a person hailing an Indica especially.

Now it seems to have been rationalized with the change in fares per km-f

Indica - first 10kms - Rs.200 - next per km Rs.16
Logan - same as Indica
Tavera - first 10kms - Rs.500 - next per km Rs.20

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by vivriti

Been a frequent user of Fasttrack in Chennai. Overall good service. The strong point is availability of vehicles.

A nephew of mine is a regular with NTL and I plan to check them out the next time.

I used to be a regular with Fast Track earlier but with NTL expanding rapidly, I have switched to them. So far, not even one instance of not getting cabs. Drivers are very courteous and cabs are clean. Do try them out.

Originally Posted by girishglg

Recently tried hailing a call taxi during a rainy evening in Blr. Called up all the major operators for a cab in the next one hour such as Fast Track, Meru, Ola, Celcabs, SPOT.

But none had any vehicle available and did not commit any time except for Fast Track who promised a cab after over two hours from the current time.

On another note, Fast Track had started charging Rs.17 per km for all varieties of cars such as Indica or Indigo/ Logan. This was a ripoff for a person hailing an Indica especially.

Now it seems to have been rationalized with the change in fares per km-f

Indica - first 10kms - Rs.200 - next per km Rs.16
Logan - same as Indica
Tavera - first 10kms - Rs.500 - next per km Rs.20

The situation is the same almost every Friday evening when you dont get cabs at all. Likewise, with Monday mornings when you need cabs from Madiwala / Kalasipalayam, you dont get cabs.

Ola has also hiked rates and included some nonsensical charges such as

1. Peak hour surcharge of INR 50 (7-11 AM and 5-9 PM)
2. Addnl INR 50 if the cab has to travel over 6 kms or so to pick you up. What is the point of a radio cab if you have to pay for the cab to reach you
3. Waiting charges when the cab is at signals. Considering the Bangalore signals, this IS A RIP OFF. Just to illustrate, couple of weeks back, took Ola from my office in Ulsoor to Sarjapur Road. Total fare was INR 450 due to all these add ons (No. 1 and 3). Journey took ~1 hour. Took Taxi For Sure on the same distance last week, and the ride took the same time. Both were sedans (Etios / Dzire). Total fare INR 260 !! Now, why would one want to take an Ola?

The Tavera rates for Fast Track look ridiculous. I have stopped using them for a while due to multiple instances of cabs not turning up and an extremely rude call centre who lie like it is their birthright when cabs do not show up.

My preferences now are 1. Taxi For Sure 2. Ola (during off peak hours and assuming cab is available closeby) and 3. Cel Cabs

[iVento]

Cheating Attempt by Fastrack Taxi Driver

I was coming from my native place with my family. Reached the Bangalore City Railway Station on 26th August 2013 Morning 4:20AM. From the Fast Track pre-paid counter, I hired a taxi, a Tata Indica.

All of us got in. The driver very promptly showed me the trip meter reading. It was showing "0".

We have noticed that the driver had spread a towel on top of the meter console, but did not mind it. On the way my wife noticed that he had put his hand inside the covered console and doing "something". She whispered that in my ears. Even at this point nothing struck me.

We reached home. I asked for the bill. Then came the shocking news Rs.475/-. That was a real shocker to me. In fact we hired an OLA taxi (Innova) for our onward journey & that costed us only 350/- (15-16KM from home). I asked the driver to show me the trip meter. That is showing 23 KMs.

I lost my cool here. I am living in Bangalore for the more than 2 decades and I have traveled to every corner of Bangalore. I know approximate distance between places. Now this guy is trying to overcharge me & cheat me. I got tough with him. Asked him to issue me a receipt showing the Pickup & Drop Point. I asked him to show me the second trip meter & that was showing a reading of 15KM! Now I realized what he was doing inside the covered console. He had switched to the next trip meter was already ran by 5-6 KMs. Cool trik!

Now the guy suddenly melted & started to apologize. He started to tell me that he has made a "mistake".

Anyway, I was not in a mood to take the matter to any further. Settled the taxi & sent him off.

Moral of the story: Make sure that both the Trip Meters are set to ZERO before staring the journey.

If you have a smart phone with GPS App, you can also inform about this to the driver. OLA Taxi use GPS App that works beautiful.

[nareshov]

There might soon be a taxi service in Bangalore driven by women.
News link: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/...cle5193722.ece

https://www.uber.com/cities is operating in Bangalore now. Rented this a few weeks ago for my commute back home. There's an iPhone app where one has to drop a pin in the map overlay for a car to take the request. An E-class showed up and it was a good experience. Cost details below:

Fare Breakdown

CHARGES
Base Fare ₨ 150.00
Distance ₨ 242.84
Time ₨ 68.43
Charge subtotal ₨ 461.27

DISCOUNTS
Rounding Down -₨ 0.27
Discount subtotal -₨ 0.27

TOTALS
Total Fare ₨ 461.00
Uber Credit -₨ 461.00
Outstanding Balance ₨ 0.00
Trip Statistics

DISTANCE
12.14 kilometers

DURATION
34 minutes, 13 seconds

AVERAGE SPEED
21.30 km/h

[lambuhere1]

Guys,

Any recent experiences with Taxiforsure in BLR. Having seen couple of negative inputs in here, a bit apprehensive

Planning to book it for today's evening trip.

Appreciate your inputs

[sammyboy]

Originally Posted by lambuhere1

Guys, Any recent experiences with Taxiforsure in BLR. Having seen couple of negative inputs in here, a bit apprehensive Planning to book it for today's evening trip. Appreciate your inputs

Booked it twice, good experience both times. Reached home on time , clean car, polite driver, no rash driving.

[girishglg]

Need some inputs on City Taxi service in Madurai where we will be visiting in the first week of Jan for a couple of days. Searched over on the net and found these well known names of operators-

• Fast Track
• Friends Track

Which are the reliable cab service and if there are any other names other than these two that is recommended?

[Aditya]

EasyCabs, a division of Carzonrent, has introduced a new method of booking its cabs.
All a customer is required to do is give a missed call on the company's customer car number, 43434343. Once done, a customer care executive will return the call, take down the customer's details and confirm the booking.

Link to Team-BHP News Article

[sandsun7]

Used Taxiforsure cab for a trip from my home in Amruthahalli, Bangalore to Banaswadi railway station last week. The cab was booked online in the morning and was scheduled to reach my home for pickup at 7 PM. The driver details were sent to me by SMS at 6.20 PM and the cab arrived at my house by 6.50 PM.
The vehicle was a relatively new and well maintained indica. Driver was courteous and readily agreed to take the route I suggested. Billing was done as per the distance calculated by a GPS enabled phone in the car dashboard.
Overall, I was quite happy with the experience.

[fiat_tarun]

Have been using OLA in Chennai over the past 2 months. Very happy with their rates and service. Fast Track has been constantly increasing their rates and now even an Indica is about Rs.17/km. OLA has only sedans and it's Rs.16/km with proper GPS logging. The only issue is their fleet size is still small so one needs to book in advance.