Radio cab service provider Meru Cabs has launched a carpool service in India, which will be available in all of Meru’s 23 operational cities. It has also tied up with Paytm for payment options. Aimed at reducing the one person per vehicle situation, Meru says that users will be able to save costs on personal transport through its service, as well as reduce the overall carbon footprint. The carpool option also lets users search for and book trips for the future (up to 1 week in advance) on destinations of their choice, as well as pay by cash, Citrus and Mobikwik wallets. The company also offers rides on inter-city travel and has an ‘in case of emergency’ button where users can store 2 registered numbers for emergency situations. Other than this, the Meru app also has a Meru Eve service which employs only women drivers and is targeted at women passengers, currently only available in the Delhi NCR area, with plans to expand to other cities. Meru's $50 million funding In March this year, Meru Cabs raised $50 million (~ Rs 300 crore) from existing investor India Value Fund Advisors. At that point, India Value Fund had over 80% stake in Meru Cabs, and was expected to divest a part of their stake for the additional funding. In March, it claimed to have a fleet of 12,000 cars, out of which it owned 6,000. However, last month, Meru Cabs told MediaNama that it had 20,000 registered vehicles on its platform across…
