OUR STORY
Some say it was Plato, others credit Victor Hugo with the famous quote, 'Necessity
is the mother of inventions'. However, Avinash Gupta has experienced it for real.
Gupta, director of Live Minds Solutions, Andheri was scheduled to catch a flight
when his plans were interrupted by a message saying his radio cab reservation was
not confirmed. Gupta tried finding a cab but all in vain. Ultimately, an auto came
to his rescue; but he missed his flight. That was how, as Gupta says, "The idea
of connecting thousands of local taxi drivers to their customers and developing
an online platform was born."
His missed flight led to the creation of Bookmycab.com, the first and only Andheri-based
"Call Taxi" service in Mumbai to book regular black and yellow taxis. The website
has more than 2,000 taxis registered in the city.
"I am sure there would have been many black & yellow taxis within a distance of
a few kilometres, unfortunately there was no way to call them. I realised that there
is a huge need for people to book black & yellow taxis on call, just like you can
book in most other major cities in the world," Gupta recalls.
The idea culminated into a strategy and later a full-fledged business had several
obstacles to overcome. He realised in order to materialise his plan he would need
a regulatory gateway. "Luckily, at the same time applications were being invited
for Call Taxi scheme by the State Transport Authority (STA) of Maharashtra and I
applied. We were selected for the license," offers Gupta.
He adds, "The authority was impressed with the concept of Bookmycab.com, the service
that covers the entire Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA)
region. Securing the license to operate under the Call Taxi service scheme from
the government of Maharashtra took about two-years."Bookmycab.com began receiving
revenue soon after the formalities were completed. Newer models such as, Santro,
Wagon R, Eeco, and Swift Dzire are also registered with the website. "Our regular
taxis, both AC and non-AC are reliable and are much more affordable as compared
to other radio taxis. Thus, we have a positive response from the customers and more
than 70 percent re-book the services," Gupta said.