Jiya Taxi plans service for women by woman

Coimbatore-based start-up Jiya Taxi services is planning to run “taxi for women by woman” and “Taxi for differently-abled” in the next one-two months.

P Rajesh, Vice-President (Operations), Jiya Taxi told BusinessLine that the company started operations in Coimbatore last June. “Our fleet size is now 100 vehicles. We started operations in Tirupur and Mettupalayam as well about 4 weeks back. In each of these towns, the number of vehicles in operation is about 10 to 15 each.”

With Sundarapuram on the outskirts of Coimbatore as its hub, the cab operator is able to service those in the vicinity within a radius of 15 km, including Ukkadam, Madukkarai and Podanur among other localities in that belt.

“Cab connectivity is neither cheap nor available at short notice. We, therefore, decided to service those in need of such service in these areas, located on the outskirts of Coimbatore. We intend to establish a hub to cover Saravanampatti within the next couple of weeks. By tying up the two ends — Sundarapuram on one and Saravanampatti on the other — we will be able offer our customers easy access over a wider area,” he said.

According to him, Jiya provides the service at at ₹25 towards booking and at ₹12/ km.

“The app for booking the service is under development. We expect to roll out in the next 1-2 weeks,” Rajesh said.

A regular customer of one of the global cab aggregators told this correspondent that the fares quoted by the operator had hit the roof in the recent weeks. “The cost of the service to reach my workplace from home, located roughly 8 km away used to range between ₹90 and ₹110. But, the last couple of days, the rate had shot up over two times, touching a high of ₹250 on Monday.

“It used to be convenient, but of late, it is leaving a big hole in my purse,” said the customer, preferring anonymity.

Meanwhile, local cab operators are trying to compete and provide better service.

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