The next time you land at the Kolkata airport, Rapido Cabs promises to offer relief from the cab-booking conundrum at the arrival terminal with its dedicated KIOSK located right opposite Gate 3B.
The KIOSK, a first for Rapido at a Tier-1 airport, was unveiled by West Bengal transport minister Snehashish Chakraborty and transport secretary Saumitra Mohan in the presence of Rapido Cabs head Rajiv Bahri and the media on November 14.
“We are happy to welcome Rapido Cabs into Kolkata airport as they look to offer a solution to customers who often face various issues while booking a transport from the airport into the city. We have received complaints in the past about the prices of cabs from the airports and drivers refusing to go without a further increase. With Rapido’s fleet of 50,000 vehicles, we hope that they will be able to cater to the needs of the travellers, offering simpler travel solutions through their platform,” Chakraborty said after lighting the inaugural lamp.
State transport minister Snehashish Chakraborty flags off a cab of the 50,000-strong Rapido fleet in Kolkata
My Kolkata managed to have an exclusive chat with Rajiv Bahri, the head of Rapido Cabs. Here’s what he had to say:
My Kolkata: Talk to us about the opening of Rapido’s KIOSK at the Kolkata airport, what does this mean and how will it operate?
Rajiv Bahri: We have come up with a SaaS (Software as a Service) model for cabs, which is a zero commission platform. We provide drivers with transparency, the payment of the customer goes directly to the drivers. We call our drivers Captains. Our major motive is to eliminate the commission that our competitors charge which ends up with customers paying higher fares and drivers ending up with lower earnings. Our zero commission model is based on us taking a subscription model from the drivers where they pay a certain amount as a subscription to use our app to get customers. The Kolkata airport is our first Tier-1 airport project and we aim to enter several other Tier 1 airports soon.
The minister unveils the dedicated KIOSK in the presence of Rapido Cabs head Rajiv Bahri (in sky blue blazer on extreme right)
MK: How are you guaranteeing the lowest prices to customers travelling with the use of Rapido Cabs?
RB: Because ours is a subscription-based SaaS model, we can offer customers the lowest price possible, while we are also giving the drivers the minimum per kilometre free they are expecting the government to enforce. Because we do not charge a commission, we are able to give both the drivers and the customers the best of our services.
MK: How does Rapido plan to tackle accidents and how do you ensure your customers have a safe ride?
RB: We have a 24x7 customer service team who will be tracking each ride and because we are linked with Google Maps we can ensure the drivers aren’t taking detours or unsafe routes. We monitor each ride throughout the day but even more so at night past 10pm, especially if it is a female customer. There is an SOS button that the customer can use. We will track the ride and if we see a detour we immediately call the customer to check if everything is alright and if the detour is one that they have consented to. Our SOS button will also directly connect the
MK: How large is the Rapido Cabs fleet and how long back was Rapido Cabs established?
RB: We started off a year back and currently we have 50,000 cabs in Kolkata and a total of 6 lakh cabs across the country.
