Meru Taxi’s – India, Bangalore

By Jay, on February 2nd, 2010

I have just been on a trip to India, Bangalore to be more exact, and had a really good time there.
There was sadly, one thing which made the trip quite difficult and that was trying to get a taxi in Bangalore.

The Sunday we arrived in Bangalore and had already prearranged a taxi (from the hotel one of us was staying at) to fetch us from the airport. This went without a problem, and the driver was waiting for us on the other side of baggage claim with a board with our names on it. The driving to the hotel was an experience on its own, but that is another story for another review.

Once at the hotel, I needed to get to the office I was working at in Bangalore, so called the front desk to ask for a taxi, 15 minutes later the taxi from Meru was there and they took me to office, although they got totally lost and had to stop for directions 6 times to ask the locals on the side of the road where the Cisco buildings were, I reached my destination.

The rest of the week however, was a totally different story. I would be finished work between 7pm – 8pm and on the first day, I naturally assumed I could just call a taxi and it would be there within a few moments. Monday I called the Meru taxi company in Bangalore and asked for a taxi to fetch me from the Cisco offices and take me back to the hotel, I was informed that the wait for a taxi would be 3 hours!!! Long story short, I called the hotel and had one of their drivers fetch me, and only had to wait 25 minutes for collection.

Tuesday, was a public holiday in India, and I knew a little better this time to order in advance, so I called Meru Taxi’s 2 hours before I needed collection, and they were able to assist. When the taxi driver dropped me off at the hotel, I asked if it would be possible for him to fetch me again at 10pm that evening. He assured me that this would be no problem, and he gave me his mobile number and said I should call him at 9:30pm to find out the exact time he would arrive. He explained that the traffic in Bangalore is so bad that he would either be there between 9:45 and 10:15 so calling him would be best to find out the exact time. 9:30pm, I call the cab driver and ask where he is, I was informed that he was now at the airport and that he can’t fetch me….end of story…he was just not willing to come all the way back for the fare. So I called Meru Taxi’s call centre and tried to book another taxi, I was informed that between 12:30 – 1:30 AM was the earliest a taxi could be there…. Yet again I used the Hotels private driver.

So to cut a long story short, Wednesday I had a similar problem and was informed a taxi would take 4 hours to arrive, so I booked my return trip at the same time, which arrived 2 hours late!!! Thursday I booked the taxi in the morning (9am) for collection at 8pm, he made it one time, but was unable to get another lift later that evening. Due to this, the rest of my trip I just used the hotel’s driver.

So in conclusion… If you need to get around in Bangalore, good luck with using the taxi service of Meru Taxi’s! Rather stay at a hotel that will charge you 5 times as much as the Taxi company, but will give you piece of mind, and will be able to get you from A to B in a sufficient time frame.

City: Bangalore

Country: India