[Aditya]

The Government of Maharashtra is considering amending the Motor Vehicles Act to bring web-based taxi aggregators under its ambit. The step is expected to affect the businesses of operators such as Uber, Ola and TaxiForSure among others.

Link to Team-BHP News Article

[Gansan]

I have been using Ola mini and Ola auto for quite sometime now. And the experience almost always satisfactory. Sometimes we may not get cabs immediately, but that is rare. I have seen Ola autos are normally not available before 8.00 AM.

I recently got two free Rs 200.00 Uber coupons for recharging Rs 500.00 on Tatasky and availed the trips the very next day. An Indica for the onward trip and a Fiesta for return. I feel their cars are in better condition than that of Ola. The trip experience was good, though I had to pay "surge pricing" of 1.6 times when I returned at 10.00 PM. After deducting Rs 200, I paid Rs 140. The ride distance was about 17 KM.

I prefer to take a cab or the train whenever I have to take my family to crowded shopping areas like T'nagar. It is a lot easier than taking my car, since finding a parking place is often a problem.

[Rajeevraj]

Maruti and Toyota have cause for worry, Hyundai is looking at the radio taxi segment (where it has very little presence) for it's next wave of growth. Currently Hyundai has started offering the Xcent as a taxi option and also plans to launch an MPV specifically targeted at the Innova and the taxi segment.

Car maker Hyundai Motor India (HMI) is looking at gaining market share in taxi hailing segment, which is dominated by its rival Maruti Suzuki. "Operators like Uber, Ola and others are aggressively increasing its presence in the taxi hailing segment in India. We are looking at this segment to gain market share", HMI Executive Director Y J Ahn told reporters here today.

Ahn said Hyundai is offering its sedan XCent for the taxi hailing segment at present. Hyundai would introduce a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) in the country to complete its presence across the entire portfolio of passenger cars in the country. "We will introduce an MPV in the Indian market to satisfy the needs of the consumers

I have noticed that a lot of the new OLA/Uber cabs are Xcents. They mostly need to carry 1-2 passengers with minimal luggage. Works well for intra-city transport in a congested city like Bangalore.

Source: Oncars

[ashua]

Originally Posted by Aditya

The Government of Maharashtra is considering amending the Motor Vehicles Act to bring web-based taxi aggregators under its ambit. The step is expected to affect the businesses of operators such as Uber, Ola and TaxiForSure among others.

Link to Team-BHP News Article

If this proposal is accepted in its entirety it sounds like taking a step back.
There is a clear need to bring in steps to ensure laws are not broken by these providers and their drivers hold valid driving licences and permits, etc. however some points in the proposal make little sense.

Steps like setting an upper limit to the number of permits and phased increase to reach this upper limit add little value and more red tape. These limits will affect overall service/availability which is now purely demand driven.
Similarly, requirements like taxis need to follow a specified and approved color and drivers need to wear uniform were justified at the time when one used to hail a yellow and black cab on the street and may not apply to the app based taxi cabs today.

On the flip side requirements like an approved GPS device (always running) should be made a requirement for not only aggregation based taxis, but all taxis out on the road. What are needed are requirements (and enforcements) like cabbies need to display their valid driving licence with a photograph clearly visible from the back seat of their car at all times, cabs and auto's should be run on meter at all times, no refusing to ply, etc.

My guess is that the push to bring in these changes in is also coming from the existing cab unions and public transport providers. The authorities have the opportunity to use this proposal to bring in some streamlining of the overall sector.

[JD1]

Look what I found when I turned Pratham Motors pamphlet - Ritz Tour offer for wannabe Ola drivers!

[sibot]

Just wanted to share my experience here. Kind of long, but bear with me

Below is a short narration (even though my attempts at laconic accounts have failed me before) of my encounter of a somewhat long drawn battle over email with Ola support team over a charge of Rs.92/- that was wrongly collected as State Toll Tax on a recent cab ride.





The cab ride was from Saket to Mayur Vihar Phase 1 via the DND Toll Route. The route has been taken umpteen times before and never before has the State Toll Tax been levied on any ride; only the Toll Charges of Rs.28/- which is an uniform charge for all four wheeled passenger car vehicles (irrespective of commercial or private) passing via the DND.

State Toll Taxes are levied when commercial vehicles travel from one state to another. While intra-state travel does not attract any State Toll Tax.

So if you car is traveling by a cab within the jurisdiction of Delhi and at no point has the cab traversed through the jurisdiction of another State, the State Toll Tax would not be attracted.

Being sure of this, I decided to contest the charge of Rs.92/-.

Ola partially conceded to the billing error and agreed to refund Rs.55/-, but remained steadfast on the remained amount of Rs.37/- and justified it as State Toll Tax. Further, they tried to take the high road by claiming they had “compensated” me for the inconvenience caused. How they came to the amount of Rs.55/- is puzzling.

It was their brazenness to justify an amount that was illegally and arbitrarily collected that persuaded me to follow the matter to its just resolution. The amount of money involved in the issue was small, but the contention went to the principle of the matter.

Upon a bit of research on Google, I found others who had faced similar issues, while some were promptly refunded the money wrongly charged, others failed to solicit any response from Ola Cabs.

In my final email to the Ola Support, albeit lengthy one, I broke it down for them as to why what they were doing was illegal, arbitrary and mala fide. To drive my point home, I attached an invoice of a more recent trip via the exact same route (destination of Mayur Vihar via DND) wherein NO State Toll Tax was levied (as many a times before).

Ola finally conceded that the amount was wrongly charged and refunded the remainder of Rs.37/-.

So to round it up for the all the tldr' out there, Ola collected money on the pretext of State Toll Tax when there was actually none. Their driver pocketed the money as per the bill (no fault on the driver’s part as he was only collecting what the final amount on his app showed him), which according to the invoice was under the head of MCD Toll Tax and supposed to go to the respective Government Authority. Upon contesting the charge, they defended the levy and claimed that there was no error in billing and that such amount is paid to the respective government authorities (lies). Upon being confronted with substantial proof, they conceded to their mistake and refunded the full amount.

Here is what you can do to avoid this from happening to you –
1. If your travel is within the jurisdiction/confines/limits of the city, you should not be charged any State Toll Tax. Though, you do have to pay whatever toll charges that may leviable otherwise.
2. If the amount seems out of ordinary, check the invoice of the cab ride in your email before paying. The invoice that you get at the end of the trip in your email breaks down the final amount for you under respective heads.
3. Do a brief mental calculation of how much the trip should approximately cost. (kilometers, time taken, minimum fare, surge pricing, etc.)
4. If you find yourself at the receiving end of such unfair charges, take some time out to contest it with the support staff and drive home the point that the customers cannot be taken for a “ride” (except the one which they take in their cabs).

I really wonder how many people must have paid such amounts without realizing that it was illegally and arbitrarily levied on their invoice. Further, if this should be brought to the notice of the respective tax authorities and MCD is something I am still debating on.

Here is my final email to them (4 of 4). I have made some corrections to the grammatical errors made by me (underlined and italicized)
Ola Atheeq,

Let me begin this mail by bringing to your attention an Ola cab booked today for the same destination (Mayur Vihar Phase 1) via DND vide invoice CRN136162936 (attached below and as a PDF file).

As you can see from the aforementioned invoice (CRN136162936), like the trip in question (CRN133286979; also attached herewith as a PDF file), the cab traveled via the DND and was not levied the arbitrary and illegal MCD Toll Tax of Rs.120/- or Rs.88/- (as you justified in your latest email).

Quoting you from your latest email -
We have reviewed your ride details and found that the cab had traveled through the via DND and the route has Toll charges that is Rs. 23/- and State tax of Rs. 60/- which sums upto Rs. 88/- and the charges are valid.
We understand that you had been charged Rs. 125/- instead Rs. 88/- and we have refunded Rs. 55/- for the inconvenience.
Toll charges and state tax is payable to the toll authority and the same is billed on your invoice. All taxes are payable to government and which is liable and the same is charged.

I have a few points to make -

1. The Toll charge is of Rs.28/- and not Rs.23/- as quoted in your email, but I think that is a typing mistake.
2. State Tax does NOT apply to a taxi ride which has taken place within the confines and jurisdiction of Delhi.
3. The Taxi at no point left the jurisdiction of Delhi. Please provide me with the relevant Regulation/Order/Rule of the concerned authority that levies State Tax on movement of Taxis within the jurisdiction of Delhi.
4. Which State Tax are you talking of here? Delhi state toll tax or NOIDA (UP) State Toll Tax? You have used a very ambiguous term 'State Tax', it fails to mention which State has levied the tax.
5. Further, there is NO governmental MCD Toll Tax nakka/booth/barricade/collection point on that route since it is an intra state passage.
6. The driver at NO point paid any MCD State Toll Tax, but only paid the Toll Charges of Rs.28/-.

Considering the above points, it must be concluded that the illegal and arbitrary charge of Rs.92/- is:-

1. Illegal - As it has been collected as State Tax, when there is NO leviable state tax within the jurisdiction of Delhi. Had the cab traveled into jurisdiction of NOIDA, the State Tax would have applied. Thus, the amount has been falsely collected under a tax head that clearly does not apply here.
2. Arbitrary - As it is levied without any uniformity. As you can see from the attached invoice of my recent ride on the same route, NO State Tax has been levied. Thus, the charge is arbitrarily levied without any application of law or mind.
3. Amounts to Misappropriation of money collected under the pretext of tax - As the amount was never paid to any government authority or appointed authority by the driver but was still collected from the passenger.
4. Malafide - As you fail to recognise and accept the error in billing and choose to justify an amount that was illegally and arbitrarily levied. Thus, this haphazard levy of State Tax goes to show malafide intention.

I find it perplexing and amusing how the State Tax has been arbitrarily levied on the invoice in question.

Again, kindly go through my latest trip invoice where I have ONLY been charged for the amount of Rs.28/- as Toll charges and NO MCD State Tax has been charged. Can you please tell me why the State Tax does not apply to this trip and applies to the earlier invoice in question.

Since this matter amounts to misappropriation of money collected falsely under the pretext of tax, I would urge you to escalate the matter to your senior for a swift and satisfactory resolution and for further internal company policy correction whereby further harassment is not caused to other passengers. One can only imagine how many other passengers must have been wrongly billed.

I would again urge you to own up to the error in billing and refund the amount illegally and arbitrarily charged.

If it aids my cause, I will provide you with more invoices of trips taken on the same route to the same destination where NO State Tax had been levied.

Further, I would prefer that all correspondence takes place by way of email.

Hope for a positive and swift resolution from your end.
Regards,
XX

--
To which Ola’s final response was –

Ola Digvijoy,

Thank you for replying.

We understand that apart from a DND toll charge of Rs.28/- no other toll charge was paid during this journey. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to you because of the billing issue.

We have initiated a credit of Rs.37/- to your Ola money account which will reflect in the next 48 hours. Hence we have totally initiated a credit of Rs.92/- to your Ola money account.

We have also forwarded this issue to the relevant department, so that the appropriate actions can be taken to minimize such situations in future.
We look forward to have you on board soon and if you have any queries you may write to us at support@olacabs.com.

Regards,

Steffina Varghese
Customer Support
Olacabs
--

[Aditya]

Ola is believed to have hired Rajiv Bansal as its new finance head. Bansal will join the taxi aggregator from January 1, 2016. The move is expected to strengthen the company's core team.

Link to Team-BHP News Article

[deepv]

Originally Posted by sibot

...
I really wonder how many people must have paid such amounts without realizing that it was illegally and arbitrarily levied on their invoice. Further, if this should be brought to the notice of the respective tax authorities and MCD is something I am still debating on.
...
--

Uber/Ola are apparently paying the drivers fair bit from their pockets to capture the markets, this may be one of the ways to offset such losses.
You rightly pointed out that many consumers may not spend so much time & energy haggling with them, so its easy money.

Came across a good article on their business economics -
http://capitalmind.in/2015/10/the-ec...d-the-company/

[DCEite]

Guys,

Does any of these aggregators offer services in Navi Mumbai area?

Specifically near 1) Khargar and 2) Ghansoli

[vvrchandra]

Guys, need a Innova kind of vehicle for tomorrow morning in Chennai and when I checked OLA app and opted OLA prime, it doesn't have any option of Ride Later and has only Ride Now option.

Please suggest any online cab operator who has Innova kind of vehicles and has advance booking in Chennai.

Note : We are 4 persons (2+2) with 4 baggages out of which 3 are big. Thanks in advance.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by vvrchandra

Guys, need a Innova kind of vehicle for tomorrow morning in Chennai and when I checked OLA app and opted OLA prime, it doesn't have any option of Ride Later and has only Ride Now option.

Please suggest any online cab operator who has Innova kind of vehicles and has advance booking in Chennai.

Note : We are 4 persons (2+2) with 4 baggages out of which 3 are big. Thanks in advance.

Call these numbers and check:

NTL Taxi - 044 3000 3000

Fast track : 044 6000 6000

I have used their services and they are safe and reliable.

[avdhesh15]

An associate had some issues with safety issues in BLR with Uber. However there was no person to whom he could reach out to in order to escalate the issue. At least OLA has a phone number where we can talk to a human.

Does anyone have a contact number for Uber? Their website doesn't have anything apart from email addresses and forms.

[cpbopanna]

Originally Posted by avdhesh15

An associate had some issues with safety issues in BLR with Uber. However there was no person to whom he could reach out to in order to escalate the issue. At least OLA has a phone number where we can talk to a human.

Does anyone have a contact number for Uber? Their website doesn't have anything apart from email addresses and forms.

Leave a feedback through the app, a 'human' well respond immediately through mail, it's quite quick!

[deepv]

Originally Posted by deepv

...
http://capitalmind.in/2015/10/the-ec...d-the-company/

Uber's efforts are paying slow dividends, seems to be catching up with Ola:
Uber Catching-up Fast

[pratyush6]

How many of you have felt it that when it rains the Surge Pricing goes quite quickly to 4X these days?
I was looking for Uber near MG Road (Bangalore) last Wednesday and even then it wasn't available. Sometimes when you are truly depending upon Uber to get a cab, those times either the app has a problem or the pricing.
If it is an emergency, I would probably look at my car as the best option. And this is coming from a very heavy Uber user.