Marhaba Taxi offers promotional fares

By Vinod Nair — MUSCAT: April 17 - Newly-launched Marhaba Taxi has announced the reduced promotional fares, which it said may continue at least for a month. As per the revised charges, (minimum fare for first 6 km will be RO 3. Onwards till below 12 km it will be 350 bz per km, from 12 km it will be 150 bz per km. Cancellation charge will be RO 1 while waiting fare will be 50 bz. It may be noted that the earlier fares announced were RO 3.5 for the first 5 km and after that 500 bz or each kilometre. Speaking to the Observer, Yousuf al Hooti, the Special Projects Manager, Marhaba Taxi, said that the fares were revised following feedback from customers since the soft launch on Tuesday. “Our rates are now competitive when compared with the prices of the existing taxi operators.” “Around 2,500 people have registered through our mobile app and roughly over 50 taxis have hit the roads. New taxis are pressed into service every day and it will increase gradually in the coming days.” He did not elaborate on the exact number of passengers who availed the service till date, but said it has been very encouraging and now we have these competitive fares. Ingenuity Technologies has been working on the project in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism. The mobile app to avail the service is available on Google Play Store under the name Marhaba Taxi Oman.