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Journal of Emerging Technologies and Business Management

Article Title

Call Taxi Serivce on Fast Track

Abstract

Whenever one has to travel by a private transport in Chennai (a famous metropolitan city and capital of the state of Tamil Nadu in India), one is at the mercy of taxi/auto drivers. One has to make several attempts to hail a taxi/auto to the desired destination. An average traveler is fed up quarreling with auto drivers on fares, rash driving, refusal to travel to certain areas and above all rickety vehicles that have outlived their economical age. What Fast track Call Taxi services have done is, they have given the consumer the sense of reliability that they will get a cab to any destination within the city and its outskirts at reasonable and metered fare. Having grown from a humble beginning in Chennai with 51 cars in 2001 to more than 3000 cars carrying more than 10,000 passengers per day, the promoter of Fast Track Call Taxi Services Mr. Redsun Ambigapathy is mulling over the following growth related issues. a) Now that Fast Track has become No.1 call taxi service in Tamilnadu, how to carry forward the sucess to other parts of the country in particular to Delhi and Mumbai. b) Though the operation has been efficiently managed through mobile & wireless technology, how to migrate to GPS and other updated and sophisticated technologies. c) What are the related & unrelated growth opportunities that could be exploited by Fast track? d) How to maintain the competitive advantage edge Fast Track has, as compared to other call taxi services in terms of driver behavior & customer satisfaction? The case study discusses origin of the Fast Track, growth stages, evolution of the business model, challenges encountered and ends with questions on sustainability, future growth & expansion opportunities and technology issues. The case can be analyzed from Entrepreneurship perspective, Business Ecosystem Model, Technology Management and Strategic Management perspective.