OneWay. Cab is a first-of-its-kind one-way inter-city taxi service company that is founded on the assurance of making travel affordable for all. The company is born out of an association between Baroda Taxi Cabs and Chartered Cabs, the individual taxi-cab services of Oneway.cab’s founders, Vivek Kejriwal and Devang Sanghi respectively.
Since its launch, OneWay.Cab has gone from just 7 cabs and few resources to covering over 400 routes across India. It is currently available in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and further plans to expand its network across Punjab, and West Bengal.
BW: Tell us about your inception and how it was started?
Answer: OneWay.Cab began its journey in 2015, when the taxi-cab markets in Baroda and Surat reached tipping point, and compelled both Vivek and Devang to develop a solution in order to survive the fast changing transportation scenario in these regions. Despite being competitors earlier, the duo work together to research the market, and found a gap within the realm of taxi-cabs, i.e. intercity travel.
They realized that most travelers had to pay two-way fares even for one way rides, which seemed unfair. Thus, to alleviate this problem, Vivek and Devang came up with a unique service that had never been introduced in the taxi-cab segment, and launched OneWay.Cab in January, 2015. The company charges only one-way of travel and considers Return Fare, Not Fair.
BW: What are you key feature/services, How is it different from existing ones?
Answer: Unlike traditional cab operators, who charge a two-way fare for one-way inter-city rides, OneWay.Cab commuters pay for fixed fare per route without any hidden charges or overhead fees or worrying about per KMs charges. The benefit comes with an on-time guarantee, a trusted team of drivers, and a fleet of clean, hygienic & well maintained cabs.
BW: What is your existing Monetization Model like?
Answer: OneWay.Cab charges commission from its driver partners per trip.
BW: Please share your present traction details.
Answer: OneWay.Cab has a month-on-month growth rate of 20%, and has successfully served 55,000 customers till date. Its mobile app has registered over 1,20,000 downloads so far.
BW: What are your future and marketing plans?
Answer: OneWay.Cab has strategically targeted the under-served tier II markets and these are its strongholds. Its cabs connect Category ‘B’ and ‘C’ cities with flair and want to emerge as a game changer in the taxi service business. Furthermore, with growth and expansion in sight, it has maintained an asset light strategy and follows an aggregator model.
OneWay.Cab offers a wide array of services, experienced staff, timeliness guarantee, and best of technology, and aspires to be India's largest one-way service provider with last mile connectivity.
BW: What are the initial challenges you faced & market opportunities?
Answer: Challenges: Driver training and awareness of importance of service quality among drivers is #1 challenge. We believe we are tested with each ride a customer takes with OneWay.Cab – We have innovated new avenues to ensure Driver engagement and to install a sense of professionalism among drivers like sending short training video to drives via whatsapp.
Opportunity: There is a huge opportunity for us because of the cost advantage. Nobody wants to willingly pay for a two-way fare when they are taking one way rides, but have to do so because they had no choice. We are giving that choice to commuters. Our service is unique and we are solving a problem. As many other companies follow suit, the potential will open up. Oneway.cab has a month-on-month growth rate of 20%, and has successfully served 55,000 customers till date. Its mobile app has registered over 1,20,000 downloads so far.
BW Reporters
Soumya is a young writer and journalist, with bachelors in Multimedia and Mass Communication. She is an alumini of the Asian College of Journalism, and finds politics and sustainability intriguing beats to work with.
