Meru Cabs introduces low-cost taxi concept in Hyderabad

Taxi service provider Meru Cabs today launched a low-cost taxi service named Genie, aimed at city commuters, in Hyderabad.

After the pilot project in the Andhra Pradesh capital, Meru plans to take it to other cities including New Delhi, Bangalore, Lucknow, Chandigarh and Visakhapatnam. Mumbai, with its huge commuter population, is not yet mentioned in its plans.

The new business will work through a driver-owned model. To start with, Meru has introduced 50 Genie cabs in Hyderabad, which it would raise to 500 in the next six to nine months. "The city has the capacity to absorb 500-1,000 Genie cabs and nationally it is around 10,000," said Siddhartha Pahwa, chief executive officer of Meru Cabs, at the launch.

It has deployed new hatchbacks including the Toyota Liva, the Indica Vista and the Ford Figo for the service. It has priced the service at Rs16 per km during daytime; night charges will be higher by 25 per cent.

"The service would address the large middle segment which commutes for shopping and picking up kids from schools, among others," said Pahwa. Like standard cabs, customers can hail a Meru taxi on the streets.

The low-cost service will also have a dedicated 24x7 call centre for booking the cab.

The organised cab service market in India is worth Rs5,000 crore a year, and is growing at 25 per cent annually.