4-4-2-2-4-4-2-2 ... That's Meru!
This birthday, I had decided to treat myself in a lavish way and so, for the first time, I decided to go to my aunt's place in a Meru cab. Anticipating the meter fare to go somewhere in the range of 600-700 bucks, I was carrying cash in surplus of two thousand bucks with me.
I called up the Meru Call center at 1315 hrs and booked a cab for 1400 hrs, which arrived a good 15 minutes before time at the spot. That's where I started liking the services. As I got into the cab, I got many more reasons to prefer this services over a normal cab, cool cab or any other cab from a similar service provider (Mega Cabs, Easy Cabs, etc.).
As I entered the cab, the first thing I notice was the printed pledge along with the driver's identity on the dashboard. I read through the list and cross-verified it at the same time.
The Pledge:
- I will drive carefully
- I will not drink and drive
- I will drive within speed limits
- I will be alert at all times
- I will keep my car clean and tidy
- I will be well groomed
- I will charge the customer as per the meter
- I will not smoke and chew pan/gutkha inside my cab
Apart from these, the chauffeur should also know how to speak, read and write in English. Pretty impressive that the chauffeur, Mr. Anwar Azad, passed with a ten-on-ten.
This made me curious to know how Meru functions, leading to a series of questions to Mr. Azad, which ended with a conclusion as to how Meru's modus operandi creates a win-win situation for Meru, the chauffeur and the customer.
Advantage Meru
Meru has a simple rule. Each chauffeur will pay 850 bucks per day to Meru no matter what. The cab can be used in two ways: 1. By taking the bookings made via the Meru call center and 2. If no bookings are currently allocated, then the chauffeur can pick up any one on the road in need of a Meru cab or any previous customer that call him at that time. But whatever the case may, the chauffeur gets a booking or the cab is empty the whole day, he has to pay 850 bucks to the company. Besides, a security deposit of R 10000 is collected from every chauffeur. Furthermore, the chauffeur is also penalized for not abiding to any of the points mentioned in the pledge.
So how does this work out for Meru?
- Meru has more than 1400 cabs within the boundaries of Mumbai and Thane; i.e. 1400 X 850 = R 11,90,000 per day and R 3,57,00,000 per month.
- Meru has a single office in Mumbai (2 floors in Mind Space, Malad West) that comprises of the 24X7 Call center and the Chauffeur Training center.
- Meru has a maintenance center in Kandivali east.
- Meru earns huge amounts from advertisements pasted on the cabs.
This means that the profit Meru has a constant profit margin and this is not dependent on the number of bookings it gets per day/month. It has a fixed amount of expenses too, which helps maintain the profit margins.
Advantage Chauffeur
The chauffeur has to take care of the following expenses.
- Paying Meru R 850 per day
- Gas refills for the cab
- Any expense on keeping the car clean
The maintenance of the car is taken care by Meru.
After hearing this, initially I got the thought that the chauffeur would hardly be saving anything. But Mr. Azad told me that after taking out the above expenses from the earnings (an average of R 1500 daily), he can still manage to save 12000 to 15000 bucks per month, which is twice the average salary you get as a driver in Mumbai.
Apart from that, there are many other advantages that keep the chauffeur happy.
- The car remains with him and he can use it for his personal purposes (Meru is only concerned with 850 bucks per day)
- He and his clothes remain clean and fresh throughout the day
- He gets to use the luxury of air condition. And since the windows are closed, he doesn't get any health problems from dust and pollution
- He just has to log off from the company's system, when he wants to use the car for his own purpose
- Since he is driving a nicely maintained air conditioned cab, he earns respect, which is generally not given to a black-n-yellow cab driver.
Advantage Customer
The most basic necessity of a customer in this case is timely service, and a Meru cab has to be the obvious choice over all the other cab services for the following reasons.
Size does matter:
Meru has more than 1400 cabs in Mumbai itself that cover Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and the outskirts like Karjat, Pen and Alibaugh. Mumbai has over 2000 kms of road. This means, on an average, there is one Meru cab at every 1.5 km. This makes it possible for the cab to reach in 30 minutes after the booking. Moreover the large number of cabs increases the probability of finding an available cab for your booking.
The competitors are not even close to the count. Mega Cabs has around 500 cabs and Easy Cab has hardly touched the count of 300 cabs.
Fair Fare:
The meter charges for a Meru cab are R 20 for the first kilometer, and R 14 for every subsequent kilometer. These rates are same across the other private cab service providers.
However, if you think a Cool cab (Blue and Silver) is cheaper, the you are terribly wrong. Cool Cab charges a fixed price to travel between two points. For example, the charges from Borivali to Dadar are R 600, whereas if you take a Meru, it would hardly go beyond R 400. What's more is that even our normal black-n-yellow cabs are expensive for long distances. These cabs charge R 16 for the first 1.6 kms, and R 17 for every subsequent kilometer.
Comparison Chart:
Here are some of the facts of different cab services for your comparison. Facts speak for themselves.
When I was inquiring for this information at their respective call centers, everyone was friendly and open enough to give out the information, except for Mega cabs. Here is the conversation I had with their representative, mind you, some senior executive.
Me: Hi, I need some information about Mega cabs.
Exec: Yes sir, where do you want to book the cab for?
Me: No. I just want some information regarding your services.
Exec: Sure sir, go on.
Me: Can you tell me the approximate count of cabs you have in Mumbai?
Exec: Eh ... Actually sir we cannot give you that information. It is against company policy.
Me: As a customer, I am trying to find out the best cab services for me, for which I need this information to make a decision. Don't you think it would help your services grow too?
Exec: Yes sir, but it is against the policy. We are not authorized give out this information.
Me: Ok. Can you find me a person who is authorized to provide me this information.
Exec: No sir. It is against the policy.
Me: What? Finding an authorized person is against the policy?
Exec: No sir. Giving information.
Me: Ok. Can you give me your Chairman's name?
Exec: No Sir. Against company policy.
Me: Even the chairman's name cannot be given out? Are you running some kinda CIA services?
There are some upcoming features in Meru that will make it more convenient and luxurious for traveling: Credit card payment and music system. Some cabs have this already in place. The others will be ready soon, that too, at the same cost.
So, in conclusion, Meru prevails as the best cab service in Mumbai.
So, in conclusion, Meru prevails as the best cab service in Mumbai.
I rest my case!
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Comments (4)
Hi Chandan,
A very informative and well-written article.
The subject choice of “Cab Services” is good and very practical as it is part of day-to-day life and will be helpful to all of us.
The title “Four-Four-Two-Two-Four-Four-Two-Two” is also very catchy and at the same time appropriate as that is all one has to remember for usage.
The content was so interesting that I never felt it was lengthy.
Facts, Numbers & Competitive comparison make it very rich and easy to understand.
Finally I am convinced to use Meru Cab services without having traveled through it even once.
Keep writing.
Tushar
this is an awesome post! unfortunately, even though Meru has 1400 cars, it is not easy at the most urgent of times to get a cab in the next 30 mins. At peak times, they are always fully booked with a 2-3 hr waiting. the credit card option in the cab has saved me many many times! that's the biggest edge meru has, according to me.
That is a nice one. Got to know a lot about Meru cabs. Nowadays Tab Cab is coming up in the city. I have seen a lot of cabs belonging to Tab Cab around. But yeah, in emergency Meru cabs is the one we catch because of the trustworthiness they have created over the years. Find some more such Car hire malad west services
I agree with you bro..,well there are many cab service in the india- Mega cabs, meru cabs, easy cabs, cool cabs, and many more... but meru cabs are not too good then tabcabs are now!, meru cars are old now :( tabcab offers new cars with 3 catagories which are tabcab, tabcab gold, & tabcab platinum... toyota etios, maruti suzuki sx4, and platinum coming soon...
They ask just 5000 as a deposit, lisence, and a taxi badge, and freshers are also welcome. I am a tabcab driver and paying them just 1,100 per day for my brand new etios :o and you can get new sx4 paying them 1,200/day they provide a guaranteed of 12,000 per month to their every saathi. for ex., if a tabcab saathi makes 5000 in a month, after paying his daily rental and fuel expenses, Tabcab will pay him 7000 as a compensation :) well i take around 800-1000 rupees at home after taking giving out rent and fuel expenses, i think this company rocks :o
visit: www.facebook.com/TABcabs