CHEA VANNAK
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| Mr.Rin Darith, Project Manager of iTsumo - the Cambodia Taxi |
Forget about flagging down tuk-tuk or taxi drivers on the street and forget about having to explain destinations and bargain the fare rates. All a passenger has to do now is just click on an app and they can get a ride anywhere in Phnom Penh.
iTsumo, a service similar to Uber, is making life easier for people wanting to go somewhere and who don’t want the hassle of explaining where they want to go to drivers and then having to bargain the fare.
The passenger just clicks on the iTsumo app and selects the options for drivers and the model of the vehicle and they can also check the driver’s location. The selected driver will arrive as fast as three minutes maximum, the app developer said.
The fares will be calculated based on the how far the passengers go and additional charges on the time the taxi takes driving from the pick-up place to the drop-off point. The base fare is 4,500 riel ($1.10) and the rate is $0.50 per kilometer. Additionally, the service will charge 200 riel ($0.05) per minute if the drive runs over the estimated calculation.
The company is also doing its best to help society by donating 1,000 riel per app download and 250 riel per passenger to the Kantha Bopha hospital.
After only one month, there are more than 40,000 followers on Facebook.
The iTsumo – the Cambodia Taxi, which is an Uber-like taxi app, is developed by a group of Khmer IT engineers in partnership with Japanese company FIGIX Industry Co. Ltd. The app is available in three languages – Khmer, English and Japanese. You can download iTsumo – the Cambodia Taxi from both Apple Store for your iOS phone or from Google Play for your Android phone. With iTsumo, passengers can easily find the nearest taxi without having the difficulty of explaining the place they are going to, said Rin Darith, Project manager of the iTsumo Taxi.
“We want to reduce the difficulties in communication between passengers and drivers and we want to make the taxi fares accurate with a charge lower than meter taxi, which charges passengers high,” Mr. Darith said.
The ride hailing service has been operating for nearly one month with freelance drivers signed up and about 500 applications downloaded to their smartphones, according to Mr. Darith.
He added that most of the passengers are local ones while foreigners – mostly Japanese – use the service to Aeon Mall, Tuol Tompong market (the Russian Market) and the airport.
The company is considering expanding its services to Siem Reap and Battambang provinces in the near future, Mr. Darith said.
iTsumo – the Cambodia Taxi can be download for free from stores. Please go to iTsumo for iOS or/and iTsumo for Android
For more updated information about the service, please check iTsumo Facebook page
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