சோழ தேர்
Named for a chariot, built for a commute
The Cholas moved people and goods across the Tamil country on roads they built and maintained themselves. We are doing a smaller version of that job in one city, with software instead of stonemasons.
Why another ride app
Because in Chennai, getting somewhere still involves a negotiation. The meter that does not work. The app fare that doubles between the estimate and the arrival. The driver who cancels when he sees the drop, and the rider who cancels when he sees the driver. Everyone loses a little bit of the day to it.
Chola Chariots removes the negotiation by removing the ambiguity. The fare is calculated on our servers from a table you can read on this site, quoted before you confirm, and shown to the driver at the same time it is shown to you. Both of you accept the same number. There is nothing left to argue about at the kerb.
We built the platform ourselves — the matching, the pricing, the wallet, the trip record — because these are the parts that decide whether a ride-hailing service is fair, and they are not the parts you should be renting from someone else.
Where the name comes from
The chariot in our mark is a temple தேர் — the one a whole street turns out to pull during festival days. It is a good reminder of what a vehicle is for: not status, but getting a lot of people where they need to be, together, on time.
- ride types, from a pillion seat to six seats
- 6ride types, from a pillion seat to six seats
- city — Chennai, done properly before a second
- 1city — Chennai, done properly before a second
- ride support, answered from Chennai
- 24×7ride support, answered from Chennai
- apps built in-house, for riders and for driver partners
- 2apps built in-house, for riders and for driver partners
Four rules we wrote down first
They are in the product, not in a values deck: each one corresponds to something the software does or refuses to do.
The fare is quoted, not negotiated
You see what the trip costs before you confirm it, and your driver sees the same figure at the same time. Both of you accept one number, so there is nothing left to argue about at the kerb.
The nearest driver gets the trip
Offers go out by distance, not by who paid for priority. If nobody nearby accepts, the search widens a kilometre at a time until someone does.
Both sides of the trip get the same record
Route, timings, fare breakdown and payment are written once and never edited. When you dispute something, you and the driver and our support desk are all reading the same thing.
Chennai first, properly
One city, done well, before a second. Fares set for Chennai distances, support in Tamil and English, and a team that knows why Kathipara at 6 pm is its own kind of problem.
Who we are
Chola Chariots Mobility Private Limited is registered and based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The company is small: an engineering team that builds the platform, an operations team that onboards and supports driver partners, and a support desk that answers riders at any hour. We are hiring for all three.
If you want to work on this, or you have a question this website does not answer, write to support@cholachariots.com.
Try it on your next trip across town.
Book a bike for one stop or an SUV for six people, and see how the ride compares with the one you took last week.