Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Easy Cabe (43434343) are really easy !

This is my recent experience.

We (family: 2 Male + 2 Female + 1 kid) wanted to reach Yashantpur railway station from NGEF, Old Madras Road. Of-course with 6 - 7 luggage items. Take an auto & reach your destination. Sounds simple !

Not in Bangalore & definately not with the "auto" at all.

There are two auto stands near our complex, JalVayu Towers. Every auto was ready to come to Yashantpur but at his own cost which was Rs. 190/-. The distance is 17 KM max & by meter it costs Rs. 120/-. So a demand of Rs. 20/- extra is justified but not Rs. 70/-. At-least I do not understand for what reason they demand more. We wanted to 2 autos & tried a bargain of Rs. 350/- for 2 but no, they saw a chance to make money & were not bugging at all :-(. We had no choice, we hired them & did the journey from home to railway station in all noise & pollution & paid Rs. 380/-.

Now, the return journey, & the scene changes all-together:

  • We are on our way back to Bangalore & train will terminate at Yahsvantpur.
  • But we have learned our lession 7 days back. So 1 hr before approaching Yashvantpur, I call Easy Cabs (080-43434343).
  • They take my request & tell me that they will confirm in 5 min if the arrangement is possible by SMS.
  • In 5 min I get an SMS with cab no. & driver cell no.
  • After reaching Yashvantpur railway station, I call the cab driver & patchup with him. Go out of the railway station & board the cab with 4 of us & our luggage.
  • We have a comfortable & smooth journey from Yashvantpur Railway Station back to NGEF, Old Madras Road, in an AC cab, no noise, no pollution.
  • Upon reaching the destination, the cab meter shows Rs. 250/- & the driver is happy to take his money & leave.
  • No unpleasent talk of "saaar, give Rs. 20/- more then meter, you make lots of money".
So one way we paid Rs. 380/- & were exposed to noise & pollution + the unpleasent bargain. On way back, it was nice & smooth at the cost of Rs. 250/-.

I'm sure this should be the experience of every IT guy in Bangalore, some or other time. Why do auto drivers in Bangalore see "bakra" in every customer ? Are we IT guys making money without any work ? Are we making money at their cost ?

Imagine this happens to a guy / girl who is starting for a good work like interview or to see his girlfriend or to see his prospective bride or to go to a temple ? His / her event gets spoiled :-(.

I'm now a happy customer of Easy Cabs !

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