Monday 14 June 2010

Easy Cabs – No, they are Difficult Cabs!

It was a long weekend spending Saturday and Sunday in office. On Sunday night around 8.40PM we booked a cab with Easy Cabs for pick-up at 9.30PM. We also got booking id through SMS. As the time was approaching, there was no call from the cab driver. Normally, we get a call from the cab driver confirming his time of arrival. As there was no call, we called up Easy Cabs number and customer service agent told that we’ll get the cab in 5mins. So, we waited and waited till 10PM but there was no sign of the cab. I again called up the number and the guy who was talking to me asked me to hold the line for a minute and he’ll check the status and update. I waited patiently for 5mins but the guy didn’t turn up! I ended the call and again called the number, this time another guy was at the other end. I vented my anger on managing customer calls and he said he’ll check the status and immediately update me. He again put the call on hold and it went for another 3mins. Sensing that these people have no sense, I ended the call and called another cab provider. The cab arrived within 20mins.

Summary: Easy Cabs are most unprofessional cabs I’ve encountered in Bangalore. I’ve booked in many cabs provider but Easy cabs beat them all! Do take a note of it when you book for a cab.

Tuesday 1 June 2010

Top 25 Cleanliest cities in India

Recently, Ministry of Urban Development published a list of cities ranking on sanitation 2009-2010 under National Urban Sanitation policy. Cities and towns were rated on parameters such as complete elimination of open defecation, elimination of open scavenging, safe collection and disposal of total human excreta.

Here are some interesting points:

> Small towns have fared better than metros
> Kanpur, once most polluted city finds place in Top 10
> None of the cities is listed under top classification "Green" (which requires city to cross 91 points out of 100)
> Only 4 cities are listed under the next best classification "Blue"
> Once plague hit Surat has come third in the list (I mentioned about this city in my article Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen)
> Karnataka state has more number of cities (5) in Top 25

Here is the list of top 25:

1. Chandigarh, Chandigarh
2. Mysore, Karnataka
3. Surat, Gujarat
4. New Delhi Municipal Council area, Delhi
5. Delhi Cantt, Delhi
6. Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu
7. Jamshedpur, Jharkhand
8. Mangalore, Karnataka
9. Rajkot, Gujarat
10. Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
11. Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra
12. Bangalore, Karnataka
13. Chennai, Tamil Nadu
14. Rourela Industrial Township, Orissa
15. Mandya, Karnataka
16. Bidhannagar, West Bengal
17. Noida, Uttar Pradesh
18. Shillong, Meghalaya
19. Ahmadabad, Gujarat
20. Alandur, Tamil Nadu
21. Haridwar, Uttarkhand
22. Bidar, Karnataka
23. Achalpur, Maharashtra
24. Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh
25. Kolkata, West Bengal

The complete list is available at India Environment Portal