Srinagar, Nov 4: In this City where buses often ply at “snail’s pace” and auto rickshaws are accused of fleecing passengers in the absence of fare meters, the much talked about Radio Taxis operating under the brand Snow Cabs have started turning into Aam Admi’s preferred medium of travel. Thanks to the “hassle free pick and drop facility”, the cabs have started offering.
 The Radio Taxi operators have started a special cab service from various areas of Srinagar upto Lal Chowk. Though the service is being offered on “trial basis” in the mornings and afternoons on limited routes, the public response has been overwhelming with Srinagarites seeking the facility for almost every area.
 For now the GPS enabled Snow Cabs taxis, which as per its operators, come with hi-tech facilities like  alarm button for safety of passengers and tamper proof fare meters offers passenger service from areas like Sanat Nagar, Chanapora and Nowgam in south City upto the City centre of Lal Chowk at inaugural tariff of Rs 20 per head.
 For those who are fed up of “snail’s pace” of public transport minibuses or arbitrarily charging auto rickshaws, the fare is affordable. “Rs 25 is no big sum for hassle-free, safe and quick drive from my locality to Lal Chowk,” said a government employee who enjoyed the cab ride to Lal Chowk. The response has been so big that the cab gets fully loaded the moment it stops for passengers at the designated stop. Given the huge rush, many remain unlucky to enjoy the ride.
 Sources said the response has been so overwhelming that on the first day of operations around 200 people phoned the Radio Taxi people seeking extension of the cab facility.
 “Radio Taxi through the special service to Lal Chowk is definitely emerging as an affordable and safe medium of travel, it should be extended to our area as well,” said Prof Mustapha, a Mohalla respectable from Pir Bagh area.
 Besides the Snow Cabs offer pick-and-drop facility for schoolchildren, a trend picking up, whereby parents get an SMS alert about the pick and drop of their loved ones.
 Kehwah Xpress Services Pvt Ltd Director Sheikh Imran said the company aspires to make Radio Taxis, Aam Aadmi’s medium of travel.
 “Most of our customers happen to be locals and this trend is picking up with each passing day,” he said adding “we aspire to make Snow Cabs peoples cabs.”
 He said the idea to start pick and drop facility upto Lal Chowk was started to “avoid dry run of the cabs when they had to reach the City centre without a passenger.”
 “But the move picked up so instantly that we receive scores of calls with people seeking start of the service from areas including Shaher-e-Khaas and elsewhere in the City,” Imran told Greater Kashmir.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 4 Nov 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 4 Nov 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 5 Nov 2012 00:00:00 IST