At Fast Track’s call centre in Chennai, Abirami (21) breathlessly works the phones. A conversation with her is punctuated by calls from customers every 20 seconds. It takes her another half a minute to capture time and location details for a booking.

After graduating with a degree in electrical and computer engineering from Thanjavur, Abirami moved to Chennai eight months ago to work with Fast Track. She and the 65 others at the cab operator’s call centre in Chennai handle an average of 500 calls a day during their eight-hour shifts, for a monthly salary of ₹10,000.

The constant ringing of telephones and hurried conversations create a pleasant buzz in the room. The only possible detractor is a message on the notice board cautioning employees to get addresses right. Every wrong address incurs a fine of ₹100.

TaxiForSure’s Chennai branch is expanding its call centre, which currently has 35 people. Those coming in for interviews are usually new graduates. The position pays around ₹13,000 a month.

The back-end technology that drives all of these companies is nearly identical. Call a cab company and you will speak to a call centre employee like Abirami. Everything that takes place after that initial call — from locating a cab to sending you a text message with the driver details to recording when your trip begins — is automated.

Although, the whole process is supposed to be a smooth affair, B Deepthi, who lives in Chennai’s Adyar locality, says she has had a few unfortunate experiences with Ola Cabs. “I had to go to the airport one day and made a booking with Ola a day earlier. Half an hour before the pick-up time, they sent me a text message saying the cab would be 45 minutes late. No other operator had a cab free at that time and at such short notice. I was forced to take an autorickshaw, which aren’t allowed inside the airport complex. So I got down at the entry to the airport and walked the rest of the way, lugging around a big bag.”

In the near future though, customers may not have the luxury of venting at a call centre employee. Newer taxi companies are encouraging the market to shift to apps, pointing out that the same app can be used regardless of which city you travel to. Ola and TaxiForSure, both present in several cities, get between 30 and 50 per cent of their booking requests through their apps.

On its part, Fast Track is launching an interactive voice-response system for registered users within the next fortnight, says C Navin Prakash, Business Development Manager with the Chennai-based taxi company. This means that eventually a recorded voice will greet you at the other end of the phone line, and Abirami will become superfluous.

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