Three hours at Sreebhumi. Two-and-a-half hours at Suruchi Sangha. Two hours at Tala Barowari Puja. That is about the time most Kolkatans spend at these iconic pandals in the City of Joy. However, this time is spent not within Ma Durga’s auspicious sanctum, where wafts of dhuno along with intricate craftsmanship can transport you anywhere from Disneyland to Abol Tabol. Lakhs of people spend this time waiting in lines, just to catch a brief glance of the goddess. Then again, the wait to watch Durga and her retinue is not limited to the queues alone. Increasingly, it also extends to waiting for cabs, most of which often end up hiking their fares astronomically (the dreaded surge!) or cancelling rides altogether during Puja.
One cab fleet promises to help improve the situation. The Kolkata-headquartered Snap-E Cabs has promised to not “levy any surge fees or allow any drivers to cancel rides this Durga Puja”, as per founder-CEO Mayank Bindal, who joined My Kolkata for an exclusive interview over video call just before the Puja crowds start to peak.
Snap-E Cabs, which was launched in August 2022, already has a substantial fleet of electric vehicles operating in Kolkata. Bindal is precise about his company’s USP — “a surge-free, cancellation-free and environmental hazard-free app cab service”. “ Our prices remain static over the year, there are no surge fees. If you want to travel from point A to point B, given any point of the day, the prices remain the same. The only case where prices might slightly differ is if our maps guide us to take a different route because of congestion on the usual path, resulting in a different distance,” adds Bindal, who founded Snap-E after being stranded for a cab at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport for over two-and-a-half hours in the wee hours of the night.
‘Since the cost of running these electric vehicles is so low, we exercise greater control over our pricing’
Snap-E, which started its operations as an electric fleet management company with Uber with 20 vehicles, currently boasts of 600 independent cabs. To meet the demand hike during Durga Puja, Snap-E has added 200 new electric cars. Bindal, who hails from the Steelman Telecom lineage and holds a master’s degree from Glasgow University, states that Snap-E owns or leases its entire fleet. “Since the cost of running these electric vehicles is so low, we exercise greater control over our pricing. Given any day, nine out of 10 times, our prices are far lower than any other app cab aggregator. A normal car’s running cost is about Rs 8 to 10 per km. Our highest running cost is not more than Rs 2. By the time we reach the third year of hosting an EV on the road, we’ll cover our initial investment and have to bear minuscule running costs.”
On the driving partner front, too, Snap-E is on its way to disrupt the industry. While most app cab aggregators pay their driving partners on a commission basis, resulting in disproportionate earnings, Snap-E pays its drivers a fixed base rate, irrespective of the number of rides they complete. “Due to our no-cancellation policy, the number of trips the drivers do isn’t in their hands. For example, on Vishwakarma Puja, most offices in Kolkata were closed and the drivers didn’t get a lot of bookings. We shouldn’t rob our drivers of their earnings due to a lack of demand, especially when they’re putting in the required hours,” explains Bindal. Drivers enjoy flexible hours with Snap-E and, upon crossing the threshold of 50 rides per week, they are incentivised in addition to their base rate of payment.
At the same time, Snap-E allows no driver to work for more than 12 hours a day to ensure healthy practices and passenger safety. All drivers undergo a two-day training programme before induction. “We’ve also tied up with requisite bodies that excel in EV best practices to ensure that drivers are trained in EV operation before being deployed in our ecosystem,” says Bindal, who has been credited by Tata for single-handedly growing the EV market in Kolkata.
Alert system, emergency supervision and female drivers
Snap-E will is training and recruiting a team of female drivers to ensure additional safety for female passengers in Kolkata
Snap-E’s electric fleet, consisting mainly of Tata Tigor Xpres-T and Citroen eC3, can recharge at charging stations in Sector 5, New Town, Thakurpukur and two in Kidderpore. While the Sector 5 station is owned by Snap-E, the rest are leased from charge point operators such as Tata Power and ChargeZone. Snap-E has recently joined hands with TCS, Cognizant, Wipro and Accenture to offer their employees transportation services at night.
While most of Snap-E’s electric vehicles can cover 130 to 140 kilometres for every 11 hours of charge, Snap-E encourages drivers to not be available for rides once a car has less than 20 per cent charge. “Initially, we had only one charging station in one corner of the city. A lot of drivers didn’t realise they were running low on battery and, by the time they started moving towards their charging hubs, the cars ran out of battery in the middle of the road. We had to deploy an RSA (roadside assistance) team to tow the cars. Nowadays, our monitoring teams send alerts to drivers to start moving towards charging hubs as soon as they reach the 20 per cent mark. In our upcoming app, as soon as a car hits 20 per cent, drivers will automatically be taken offline and guided to their nearest charging station,” says Bindal, who aims to host a charging hub every 7km in Kolkata by 2026.
Snap-E has a round-the-clock monitoring team. In case of an emergency, customers can get in touch directly with a team of supervisors, instead of having to drop emails and wait for redress. Each car also comes armed with an SOS switch, which upon being pressed sends an alert to monitoring personnel as well as the police and nearby hospitals if need be. Snap-E has recently collaborated with Azad Foundation for training and recruiting female drivers to ensure additional safety and comfort for female passengers travelling alone. Their new app, set to launch next year, will allow customers to connect with drivers of their choice.
No plans to enter the two-wheeler market or launch in other metro cities
However, notwithstanding its benefits, if your probashi friend is returning to Kolkata this Durga Puja, they might not want to avail Snap-E from the airport. Despite holding an MoU with the Airports Authority of India, Snap-E has to pay an additional Rs 40 for airport parking, which has to be borne by the customer. We might also never see Snap-E venturing into the two-wheeler industry, popular among young Kolkatans, due to “loose two-wheeler app laws and other safety concerns”.
For now, Snap-E remains operational only in Kolkata, with plans to launch in Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Nagpur and Raipur shortly. Upon being asked why Bindal does not wish to venture into other metros, he says: “There’s too much traffic. There are too many players and a dearth of open space, which is required for our hefty charging stations.” Snap-E currently does not accept outstation rides due to a lack of charging stations beyond the limits of Kolkata. Waiting times for Snap-E vehicles also tend to be considerable, which Bindal and his team are trying to fix by adding as many cars to the fleet as possible.