City taxis to be a phone call away

All set to give private taxis a run for their money, the city’s ubiquitous black-and-yellow taxis will be just a phone call away from March.

All set to give private taxis a run for their money, the city’s ubiquitous black-and-yellow taxis will be just a phone call away from March.

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The state transport department has cleared the ‘call a taxi’ proposal and has appointed a private contractor to set it up.

Each taxi will have a GPS system, connectivity to a central call centre and an electronic meter. The 24-hour call centre will take calls for black-and-yellow taxis, Cool Cabs and a fleet of high-end taxis, on 42919191.

“At least 20,000 black-and-yellow taxis that are less than two years old will be part of this scheme,” said a senior transport official, on condition of anonymity. The city’s 400-odd cool cabs will also be part of the scheme. Initially, 1,000 black-and-yellows will be accessible via the call centre. More will be added depending on the response and cabbies’ willingness to join the scheme.

Tristar Multi-Trade, which is setting up the service, will add 500 of its own radio cabs later.