From August 1, you can rent a radio cab in Delhi national capital region (NCR), and get one packet of wet face wipes, mineral water and a cold drink for free.
Airwide Car Rent Pvt Ltd has launched Aircab, a premium radio cab service that will use the CNG-based Chevrolet Aveo only as its fleet.
The service will be priced at Rs 20 a km, in the same range as its competitors such as Meru Cab, Mega Cab, Easy Cab.
For good measure, Hasmukh Prajapati, the entrepreneur promoting Airwide Car Rent Pvt Ltd, stated, “We will also provide readable (sic) in-cab magazine and newspaper…Nowadays, even flights don't provide cold-drinks to their passengers”.
The radio-cab company has booked 200 Aveos to start with, out of which 100 will be delivered by August 15.
By four months, about 500 Aveos will be on the road.
Equity investment
Finance has been provided by players, including Oriental Bank of Commerce, Mahindra Finance, ICICI Bank and Cholamandalam Finance.
Prajapati claimed he has not received any volume discount from GM.
On equity investments, hesaid he has put in the “margin money of Rs 2.5 crore”.
On whether the premium, radio cab market is already crowded, Prajapati said, “There is a huge demand in the market.” The company's cab service has pretty much the same features that other radio cab companies provide — booking through the phone and Web, or by calling free cabs on road; GPS (Global Positioning System) based online tracking.
The company claims every driver undergoes stringent training from reputed institutes such as the Institute of Driving and Training Research.
It claims that the drivers' antecedents are verified by competent authorities before they are awarded a driver's badge.