Bengaluru: Around 5,000 cabs are expected to ply under the Namma TYGR brand to take on the majors in business Ola and Uber from today, i.e, November 30.
Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda launched the new cab service at the Puttana Chetty Town Hall in the presence of several drivers on November 29.
Fed up of the treatment meted out to drivers and vehicle owners by Ola and Uber, a splinter group mooted the idea to float Namma TYGR, funded by H D Kumaraswamy, Janata Dal (Secular) State President and former chief minister.
A company named Huli Technologies operates the service and around 5800 drivers have signed up in addition to the 5000 likely to ply after the official launch. However, around 800 drivers were active on the app on the launch day.
Additional vehicles will join the fleet after the completion of verification of documents, said Tanveer Pasha, one of the directors in the company.
The fares are fixed at Rs 12.50, Rs 14.50 and Rs 18.50 per km for hatchbacks, sedans and sports utility vehicles (SUV), respectively. The rates will remain fixed and will not vary like other aggregators, added Tanveer pasha briefing about fares.
Commenting on the launch of new service, a cabbie heaving a huge sigh of relief said, “The benefits are better than we expected and the fixed price concept works in our favour.”
The decision to take on aggregators Ola and Uber was taken in February after a series of protests by drivers associated with them. Drivers had accused both the companies of hiking commission rates as well as reducing incentives paid to them, that time. The Namma TYGR has assured of lower commission of around 12 percent per ride in addition to health and accident insurance benefits for drivers.
