Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Delhi government is ready with its New Year gift. Come January 1 and spanking new CNG taxis, which would cost you Rs 15 a kilometre, will hit the roads.
These radio cabs will be available 24 hours at the airport, metro stations, railway stations, bus terminals—all over Delhi.
Monitored by a GPS system, these cars will be monitored to avoid tourists being harassed.
While radio cabs were launched in Delhi a few years ago, the fleet remained a miniscule 136 vehicles. But with the Government getting into the game, Delhi should have more than 10,000 radio cabs before the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
"We started in Chandigarh and now we have launched it in Delhi. In the next three years, will get 5000 cabs in Delhi, Banglaore, Chennai, Mumbai and Jaipur," says CEO of Carzonrent India, Rajiv K Vij.
"In the next three years, we want to add 25,000 cabs all over the country with investment not less than Rs 1000 crore," he adds.
Delhi will also get 2,000 new CNG buses before 2010. The Government tender for 625 buses, will be opened by mid-January. Askok Leyland, Tata Motors and King Long are said to be in the running.
"We have 46 lakh vehicles on road, 22 lakh two wheelers, we need dedicated bus corridor. We are getting 800 new low floor CNG buses soon," says Delhi Transport and Power Minister, Haroon Yusuf.
On the lines of yellow cabs in New York and comfort cabs in Singapore, easy cabs will offer swipe machines to make payments through credit cards. For this service, the company has tied up with ICICI bank.
The company has plans to add 250 more cabs within three months and build a fleet of 5,000 cabs before Commonwealth Games in 2010.
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