App-based taxi services

KARACHI: Taxi-hailing services are quite a new phenomenon for Pakistan. Here, people are used to travelling by poorly-conditioned buses, recklessly driven rickshaws and high-charging yellow cabs. Mobile application-based taxi hailing services have certainly provided the people of our country a new way of commuting.

I recently had an experience of acquiring this travelling service. I not only found the procedure of calling up a taxi quite convenient but also have found their charges highly affordable. Furthermore, the conditions of the taxis are absolutely satisfying and have different facilities such as wi-fi and stereo systems.

The whole point of such services is being able to order a car from the comfort of your Smartphone. There is no dealing with call centres and no helping a lost driver navigate to your location. In as few as four taps, you can have a car pull up right in front of you. The companies claim to have trained their drivers so as to minimise traffic accidents. For commuters’ security, GPS trackers are fixed in these taxis so that travellers can trace their locations. The driver-driven taxi services allow commuters to book a car immediately or later on. Simply choose your car type, enter your preferred date and time, and the car will be booked for you.

In countries like Pakistan, where the population is growing at an unprecedented rate, the emergence of traffic issues is an inevitable consequence. The high density of transportation on the roads leads to frequent traffic deadlocks. Road accidents have become rampant. In such bleak circumstances, chauffeur-driven taxi services have emerged as new ray of hope. They will not only play their part in improving the transportation system in Pakistan, but will also create a plethora of job opportunities.

Tariq Faruqi 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2017.

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