Though a few of the blue air-conditioned Indicas can still be spotted near the airport, railway stations and hotels, you can no longer call 13658 or 30905357 to get one of these vehicles to pick you up from home or office.

However, all is not lost. The Kolcab service was launched in the city on November 22. This service does not use specialised taxis but the normal yellow cabs of Kolkata. One simply needs to call 9433565222 and a taxi will arrive at your doorstep. The service operates round-the-clock and there is no additional charge for availing cabs at night.

Those involved with Kolcab say that the service is gradually becoming popular. Its main attraction is its fare. The taxis charge only what the meters show. Those involved with Blue Arrow cabs agree that it was their fare structure that ruined their business.

"Maybe we had misjudged the demands of the city. Very few people availed the service as fares were higher than normal taxis. Now, most Blue Arrow cabs wait for passengers outside star hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, major railway stations and the airport. The drivers still carry mobile phones and can be contacted directly by people who know them," a Blue Arrow official said.

Unlike Delhi, Kolkata does not have designated taxi stands. Kolcab is based on a study that revealed that most taxis spend 50 per cent of their time looking for passengers. Under this system, a call centre is in touch with 100 taxis. The drivers of these taxis have mobile phones.

Everytime the call centre receives a call, the customer care executive gets in touch with drivers. An empty cab closest to the address of the passenger is sent over. The drivers have to pay only Rs 325 for use of the mobile phones.

All additional expenditure is taken care of from revenue generated from advertisements on roofs of the taxis.