After hitting the roads, cab aggregators such as Uber and Ola are all set to come to give fight each other on railway tracks. Both the Players are now in the race to tie-up with the Indian Railways to offer services to train travelers.
Indian Railways plans to invest more
They both giants are looking forward with the idea of Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s idea to offer a space for cab operators at railway stations. The battle has started between the two to garner the railway’s market share. Through this initiative, the Indian Railways is likely to add an additional Rs 120 crore to its non-fare revenue.
Railways can float a tender if it goes for the plan
According to plan, those users who book tickets through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) app will able to schedule a ride with a cab aggregators on a future date and time.
If Indian Railways goes with this idea, it will have to float a tender for this from the both companies. The other big service providers in the sector are Baxi, Shuttl, Meru and Bla BlaCar. On the other hand, San Francisco- based Uber us aggressively moving ahead in the Indian market, Ola still hold a majority of shares.
Uber has already mooted the idea of having UberPool facility for multiple travelers on the same train, traveling in the same direction. This will be through integrated UberPool into the IRCTC booking flow, which would reduce the cost of rides for the passengers,” said sources.
Passengers will be able to book a cab through offline
With this plan, the selected company will have parking area near the station where a pool of cabs will be parked, where the ride will be offered to drivers on a first in, first out basis. Not only that, the passenger would also be able to book cabs offline as cab providers will have the service booth in all the major railway stations as similar to all the airports.
According to sources, both the rivals are expected to invest about $2.25billion in India in near future.
