Have been completely out of writing for about 6 months now owing primarily due to hectic work schedule. Had tight schedules for the product we were working on and we went live by April. I have so many things to write on and starting on right away.
Last Sunday, my sister went back to Ahmedabad to continue with her training and I had booked a cab with Fasttrack for airport drop and coming back home. And I am pretty impressed with their service. Whenever I require a cab, I always call up Fasttrack though there are umpteen number of service providers in this line. This time when I had called up and told my mobile number they were readily able to pull up my data from their system. After the representative took my details, she suggested couple of packages that are available and finally gave me a confirmation number. Till this, it is pretty much expected out of any service.
Next day morning, 30 minutes before the pickup time, I got an SMS from Fasttrack saying that the cab is on the way and the SMS had details on who is the driver, the driver’s mobile number and approx time by which the cab would be present at my door. And the cab was present right on time. In the past, the cab actually comes in well before the pick up time and the driver would start the meter exactly at the pick up time. On the way back, just minutes before the cab reached home, I get another SMS saying “Hope you enjoyed your trip. For any assistance, please call at…”. That was just two simple SMSes but from a pure customer experience point of view, it gave the feel good factor and I would definitely go back to Fasttrack.
Had a word with the driver too and was enquiring about their model. Looks like Fasttrack doesn’t own most of the cabs. The driver’s themselves own the cab and they run it for Fasttrack. Fasttrack does the advertising part, running the system, coordinating different routes. Drivers’ would get allotted a pickup – drop route and each cab has an ID attached. When the trip starts, drivers’ update Fasttrack through the in-car equipment and when the trip ends they update again so that the next trip can be assigned.
Though the rates are little on the higher side, the experience was pretty neat. They could do something about their website as Google reports the site has malicious. If that gets fixed and one can book through internet too, then it would definitely add a lot of value to the customer.
Raghu's Ramblings 