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Pune-headquartered Wings Travels is all set to launch its premium cab service, Wings Radio Cabs, in Bengaluru on August 1, in a market that is already crowded with major players such as Meru, Mega, Easy, Ola, Taxi For Sure and Uber.
Wings will offer cabs in the premium sedan category with 30 black Hyundai Accent cars to start with, and grow the fleet to 100 cabs, which will be funded through internal accruals over the next few months.
“Bengaluru is the first major metro and fifth city where we are launching our radio cab service. The city faces a critical shortage of premium cabs and can easily accommodate an additional 800-1,000 cabs. Our cabs will offer world class hygiene, comfort and safety with trained drivers dressed in all-white uniforms,” Arun Kharat, founder, Director of Wings Travels Management (I) Pvt Ltd, told BusinessLine .
The pricing from 6 am to 11 pm is ₹100 for the first 3 km and ₹18 per km, thereafter. The pricing from 11 pm to 6 am is ₹125 for the first 3 km and ₹23 per km, thereafter. Cash, credit and debit card payments will be accepted.
Panic switchWings Radio Cabs will be equipped with the country’s first voice-activated panic switch that will set off an alarm alert to the company’s call centre and simultaneously send a picture of the occupants of the cab along with a 30-second audio recording soon after the panic switch is set off by a loud scream.
After analysing all the information in real time, the call centre will inform the local police and also alert other Wings Radio Cabs in the vicinity to rush to the aid of the passenger who raised the alarm.
“Very often, passengers in a crisis find it difficult to reach out and activate the panic button in the cab or via the mobile app. And there are many who do not use smartphones. With our world class safety feature, all they have to do is, scream loudly to activate the panic switch.
“If the driver tries to tamper with the panic switch or the dashboard-mounted vehicle tracking, navigation and billing device which also clicks pictures of the occupants in times of crises, then again an alert is triggered off to the call centre,” said Kharat. The company plans to launch a fleet of Ford Figos in Chennai and Hyderabad.
Wings clocked a turnover of ₹150 crore in FY2015 and operates a fleet size of 5,500 cabs pan-India of which 1,200 are Radio Cabs which have been in service in Pune, Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Chandigarh since 2008-09.
The vast majority of cabs fall under the company’s staff transportation business for IT/ITES sectors and corporates, and constitutes its primary business.
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