Kerala Savari to be rolled out in Ernakulam shortly

The explicit goal of the initiative is to facilitate safe travel for the public at reasonable government-approved fares without the ‘surge pricing’ strategy adopted by private online cab aggregators to maximise profit while also ensuring drivers their due share without unreasonable cuts.

Kerala Savari, the country’s first State government-owned online cab aggregator, is likely to be rolled out in Ernakulam and Thrissur districts shortly following the success of the pilot project in Thiruvananthapuram.

The registration of autorickshaw and cab drivers is under way in select locations in Ernakulam. One such registration camp was held at Thoppumpady on Tuesday. The Kerala Savari app is available both on Google Play Store and App Store.

“We want to ensure uninterrupted service by enrolling maximum autorickshaw and cab drivers before launching it in the district. We have also shared a tutorial video on self-registration, which is increasingly being used by operators in Ernakulam where the strategy of the rollout would be decided after factoring in all aspects,” said Kerala Savari sources.

The service operated by the Motor Workers Welfare Board under the aegis of the Labour department was launched in Thiruvananthapuram last August. The explicit goal of the initiative is to facilitate safe travel for the public at reasonable government-approved fares without the ‘surge pricing’ strategy adopted by private online cab aggregators to maximise profit while also ensuring drivers their due share without unreasonable cuts.

Though the project was initially scheduled to be expanded to more districts shortly after the launch of the pilot project, it was postponed to iron out anomalies in its operation. “We have refined the app by integrating suggestions from operators. We started the service in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation areas where it proved to be a great success following which it was gradually expanded to limited areas beyond the Corporation limits. Till now, the app has logged around 21,000 users and 2,500 operators. The app downloads may be even more,” the sources said.

While operators are guaranteed the entire fare, of the additional 8% service charge, 6% goes to the technical partner and the remaining 2% towards the implementation cost and for providing promotional incentives to passengers and drivers.

Though there was dropout of drivers in Thiruvananthapuram initially owing to lack of clarity of conditions, they could be convinced and brought back to the fold, the sources said.