BIAL bound? No problem

BIAL bound? No problem
Author: Priyadarshini Nandy

Booking a cab to and from the airport just became easier with service providers going online. You don’t have to worry about them turning up on time as stiff competition keeps these vendors on their toes...

After much deliberations and protests the Bangalore International Airport is finally in function. The only issue that continues to trouble commuters is the lack of infrastructure that leads us to the airport.

Thanks to private vendors coming forth, travelling to the airport isn’t much of a mammoth task any more.

Of these, Zoom Airport Express, Airlift cabs and Meru cabs are three of the only services to have come forward with fully integrated websites, www.zoomairportexpress.com, www.airliftonline.com and merucabs.com for consumers to use to schedule pick up and drops.

How it works

While Airliftonline allows you to schedule pick up and drops to and from the airport, all financial transactions are made directly to the cab drivers. The service has pick up points for users to choose from.

Meru Cabs has a more user friendly interface, allowing you to book cabs online and on the phone via SMS or their customer care centre. Payment however is again made to the driver Zoomexpress however, intends to take that a step further by allowing online payment for travelling to the airport.

The website is not completely operational now as the the company is still in the process of partnering with banks with card payment options.

“Once the e-commerce is set up, people will be able to use the website not only to book pick up and drops, they can also make payments as we will have fixed charges to the BIAL from every location.

So, once the customer keys in the location he needs to be picked up from, he can pay for it accordingly online itself. Since we’re focussing on BIAL as our hub, it becomes easier to fix a fee,” says TPRS Prasad, CEO Zoom Airport Express.

Zoom Express schedules cars every 30 minutes and users can actually check the next convenient pick up time and book their cabs accordingly. “Users can actually book taxis, keeping one hour windows for us to accommodate them. This way, even last minute scheduling is possible,” adds Prasad.

In comparison iT ADDA did a quick comparison between the three websites to bring out their best features.

Meru cabs: The company is not new, already operating in Mumbai and New Delhi. Their website is really comprehensive and has whatever information you might be looking for on the website. Once you register on the website, it keeps track of your previous bookings with them as well. Once booked, the website sends you a confirmation number as an alert either via email or SMS.

Airlift cabs: It allows you to take a cab either from their list of pick up points or from your home. Extra charges are applicable for door-to-door pickups. The website also asks for your flight details and automatically gives you the best pick up times for you to choose from. Again, transactions are made with the taxi driver directly as the fare is calculated according to the meter.

Zoom Express: While the website currently carries information on the areas covered, they do intend to start e-commerce within a month’s time. Once that section is up and running, customers won’t have to argue with cab drivers on faulty metres and fares as everything would be possible online.

“Since this is a cab share concept, we’ve been able to keep the fares moderate without compromising customer comfort,” concludes Prasad