Fancy Starting a Taxi Business?

By Peter Townson
Staff Reporter

NASSER

Besides expanding services to more areas, the “new” taxi companies will improve the availability of cabs on the streets and provide the public a chance to choose from a set of operators though the tariff will remain the same, Mowasalat officials have said.
Mowasalat welcomed the prospect of other organisations establishing taxi operations in Qatar after launching the bidding process for a franchise system.
The transport company, which announced the launch of the process last week, will accept applications from today until August 25.
“Mowasalat is launching a franchise system aimed at expanding the taxi services in the State of Qatar,” said a spokesperson, adding “the company welcomes franchisees who have a strong desire to serve the public by means of world-class transport systems.”
A successful bid will enable a company to operate up to 500 taxis on the basis of a five-year renewable contract that will  include access to corporate bookings and advertising through Mowasalat’s networks.
The move will bring competition to a market which has been monopolised to date, and officials said that should improve the frequency and availability of  taxi services. 
Mowasalat chairman and managing director Jassim Saif al-Sulaiti said the expertise and experience gained during their work in Qatar so far would help them continue to grow in the future.
“We are ready to involve others in the success we have achieved over the previous years, to break the monopoly and to accept competition by granting the franchise to operate a certain number of Karwa taxis,” he said. 
“Such business partnership will be mainly for the benefit of the public who will enjoy additional service options without any compromise of the world-class quality,” he said.
“In Mowasalat, we will dedicate our resources and efforts to fulfil our vision of maintaining our position as the first option in the field of provision of integrated transport solutions in the region.
“We will continue our approach of innovating and adopting new concepts, research and technologies with a view to providing new products and services while giving priority to environmental safety issues and adopting new and more effective values.” 
Mowasalat executive director Ahmed Bu Sherbak al-Mansouri said the Karwa franchise programme had matured over time and was now designed to fulfil the task of creating a fair market share of the taxi business in Qatar “within certain parameters or standards set forth following the popular Karwa taxi brand”.
He said: “Breaking the  monopoly, a franchisee will join Mowasalat’s Karwa fleet to provide more choices and more variety in a complete line of taxi services covering more  parts of Qatar. This is truly historical to both potential franchisees and the ever-increasing customers of the taxi business.” 
Business development and strategic planning director Nasser al-Khenji said the programme offered more flexibility to franchisees, enabling them to save on operational cost while helping them to maximise their day-to-day potential profitability.
“Operating a franchise-based Karwa taxi  means that the internal and external look and feel of the taxi service will be maintained, including the high level of customer-handling that Mowasalat is known for and has maintained for years,” he said.
“The tariff and the method of printing the receipt will all remain the same even if the kind of technological gadgets or brand in the taxi may appear dissimilar between operators,” added al-Khenji.