Fast Track, one of the leading call taxi operators in the South, will install ‘panic buttons’ in all its cabs to prevent any untoward incident either to passengers or to the cab driver concerned. The project would involve an investment of around ₹ 30 crore, said M Prabhu, Chairman, Fast Track Pvt Ltd.

These panic buttons are based on satellite aided global positioning system (GPS) which will help the operator to trace the cab and rush a rescue team to the location. Fast Track will install this instrument in all its 15,000 cabs plying in 35 cities, including Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam, Pune and Kolkata. “The process has begun, and almost 70 per cent of our cabs now have GPS tracking system,” he said.

This move comes in the light of the recent rape of a woman passenger by the driver of a Uber taxi in Delhi and the Centre’s move to either ban or increase regulation of web app-based taxi services.

Announcing this at a press conference here, Prabhu said the company takes enough care before attaching cabs with the company. Every driver in Fast Track is thoroughly vetted and his identity along with that of his family members and his residence are checked. “Besides, since each one is the owner of the car he drives, it is very easy for us to pin him down,” he added.

The company today launched its ‘economy’ service which comes at ₹ 11 per km, while its regular call taxis are offered at upwards of ₹ 15 a km. This service is initially launched in Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchi and Coimbatore, before being extended to other cities.

According to C Ambigapathy, Managing Director, Fast Track operates 6,000 taxis in Chennai alone. The demand for call taxis is growing at 20 per cent across the cities it operates in. Considering this, it plans to add 1,500 cabs to take its total inventory to 16,500 in the next few months. Currently, Fast Track earns call centre charges of ₹ 32 crore a year, while the overall size of its business is pegged at ₹ 800 crore.

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