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Let's take it easy
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Ezi Drive solves the nightmare of navigating trafic by providing skilled, polite drivers
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PHOTO S. R. RAGHUNATHAN
ON THE ROAD The drivers go through a rigorous selection procedure
Gone are the days when we inherited our drivers, gone also are the days when driving one's own car was a pleasure. The dearth of good drivers is as real as the horrors of navigating the city's obstacle-course roads, and it's not surprising to find yourself wishing a fairy godmother could conjure up a perfect coachman.
Well you now may have your wish. Just call Ezi Drive, and you will get that coachman. Ezi Drive is a driver hire service operating out of Jeevan Bhimanagar, with a corpus of 30 drivers, who can drive "any vehicle from Maruthi to Mercedes" and do city as well as out-station trips, and who work 24x7.
Syed, who runs Ezi Drive with his friend Rajeshwari Mohan, explains that he decided to start a driver hire business when he realised that owning a vehicle did not make travelling any easier.
One's own space
This is exactly what retired DGP S.N.S. Murthy, a regular client and well-wisher, feels: "I drive my own car, but sometimes I may have to go, from Indiranagar where I live, to Bannerghatta Road, or Yelahanka or Rajarajeshwari Nagar, and that's when I don't want to drive. This is a good arrangement because I get to travel in my own car whose quirks and idiosyncrasies I know, but I don't have to drive."
Most clients hear of the service from others who have already tried it and this is reassuring. Says R. Velayudhan, who went on two long-distance trips recently: "I had just sacked my driver, and we had these trips planned. We were actually planning to use a friend's driver, when my neighbour told me about this service."Syed screens drivers carefully. First, he screens those without a minimum of five years driving experience. A second interview checks driving history and familiarity with languages. After that, Syed does a police verification of candidates and their licenses, and then he makes it a point to visit the driver's home, and also to make enquiries in the neighbourhood; the original license of all drivers are retained with Syed.
Syed says that the ideal candidate should be able to drive any car, have experience of driving in different places, be able to speak some English and at least two Indian languages, and be familiar with routes. Syed gives his drivers an initial session in the basics of etiquette, customer care and road rules and they attend monthly meetings to discuss problems, suggestions etc.
Clients vouch for the behaviour of Ezi Drive drivers. Murthy says: " I have found them to be experienced, courteous and they keep their time. They do not drive like call centre drivers." Adds Velayudhan: "The driver asked me before starting out on a 10-day trip, at what speed he should drive. And he kept to that."
The economics of is attractive too: in the city it's Rs. 125-150 for four hours, with Rs. 25 for every extra hour, and for out-of-town Rs. 400 per day, inclusive of everything. You can hire drivers by the hour, or for specific pick-up and drop, or even at a particular time every day for a long stretch of days.
EZI Drive is at No. 6, Jeevan Bheema Nagar Bus Stand, J.4 Road. Syed can be contacted on: 9986177890, 9341916583 or 32919714
KALA KRISHNAN RAMESH
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