24-hour `radio taxis' in city soon

By VL Srinivasan

Published on April 3

Hyderabad: AIMING to provide convenient round-the-clock private transportation for international air passengers, the GMR group, which is developing the Shamshabad international airport, has suggested that the State Transport
department introduce `radio taxis' for passengers coming by air to the city.
The developers identified various domestic and international radio taxi operators including Hertz, AVIS, COMFORT Singapore and SMRT Singapore who are keen to start operations in Hyderabad and held discussions with them on the market potential.
They have also collected various radio taxi policies available in India and wanted the department to evolve a comprehensive radio taxi policy for Hyderabad.
The suggestion found favour with the Transport department officials who last month forwarded the same to the State Government for issuing a draft notification and for finalising a policy after receiving objections from
general public.
``This is a public utility service with certain conditions attached to it and so we have to invite objections and suggestions,'' senior officials of the Transport department told City Express.
In fact, a few international car rental companies have already approached the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) officials seeking licences to start their services but they were advised to wait for a couple of months as the matter was pending with the State Government.
The radio cabs will be of immense help, especially for woman employees who work late in the nights, as the vehicle can be tracked, wherever it is, the officials said.
According to them, each firm should have a minimum of 100 vehicles for starting operations and there will be no limit on the number of licences. Fares and other finer apects of operation will be finalised once the
Government gave its approval to the proposal.
The radio taxis are already operating in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. The Delhi government issued licences to three companies - Metro Radio Cab Limited, Carzonrent and Mega Corporation Limited. The services were launched a few months ago.
The radio cabs will have a Global Positioning System (GPS), digital fare meters, swipe machines, printers for issuing bills and would be available round-the-clock. They will also be equipped with panic alarm buttons for
passenger safety. Plush C-segment vehicles like Ford Ikons will be used by the companies for the purpose.
The companies will also accept payments through credit cards and frequent commuters can also purchase pre-paid cards, they said.