[Mortis]

Originally Posted by abhi7013

Last week due to strikes of uber/ola, there was surprisingly very less traffic during peak hours and that too on a weekday in Bangalore.
Makes me wonder if we are better off without them!

Traffic was really quite a bit better in Mumbai for those 2 days while these cabs were on strike. Ive said it earlier as well, I honestly feel that these cabs have added to traffic by a good 15-20%

[dark.knight]

I'm in a good position to write something closely related to this, frustrated by local traffic and maddening parking situation my trial with UBER started nearly 2 years ago.

And this quickly turned into a dance in paradise - what possibly is wrong with this arrangement? I basically had a cab pick me up in less than 2 minutes every single time and even at every odd hour possible, they were cheaper than standard auto fares, even post 11 pm at night which is the time these dreaded khaki wearing thugs running the autos charge double/triple/quadruple the fares. I had every kind of car pick me up and drop me comfortably at my destination at night - from Innovas, Corollas, Ciazs etc apart from the regular Etios, Swift Dzire and Xcents.. loved most rides and as a customer centric company nothing can beat UBER, no company in India can come close. Their ridiculously low pricing, very well trained, well spoken and outstanding drivers and ease of use had me stunned for a minute. Sometimes in life you simply cannot imagine that a good thing is happening and this to me will remain one such memory.

1200 rides in (yes!) I then saw the pieces from the cracks, fall.. some reasons why are as below :

1) A massive strike leading to UBER driver exodus to OLA in Bangalore which was their key market.

2) Slow withdrawal of attractive schemes and rates.. to now where UBER can be considered quite expensive.

3) Their customer service became harder to access and more confusing than ever.

4) The rubberband pricing (or what UBER calls surges) was ridiculous, to a point where I was able to predict them and tap into their algorithm.. of course if you've ridden anywhere close to how much I've, it becomes easy. For example in a slight peak say 6.45/6.50 pm, the rate would clearly show Rs.89 or thereabouts, somewhere between 7.00 or 7.11 pm, the new rate would be Rs.70/- flat.. it felt like I've won a contest lol.

I've done about 100 or so rides in OLA as well and my verdict has never been easier. OLA with its fancy tablets and so called marketing isn't even 1% of UBER, be it customer care, value for money or even driver behavior. I love American companies and UBER is one of them. I predicted a merger a long while back but I was hoping that it'd be the opposite, sadly it isn't so.

Now I mostly drive myself to justify the purchase of a new car (I get acidity whenever I cannot show running for a liability that I've gotten into, afterall leveraging the car is all about years owned and miles run). It was nice knowing you UBER, however long it may have been, we enjoyed your presence in our life and OLA shall always remain a poor imitation. Goodbye.

[Dry Ice]

I think it won't happen in India at-least. This is one place, they can turn profitable soon. The incentives are gone, fares are rising - at this pace, they are bound to break even.

That said, if Uber and Ola do merge, along with the riders, drivers too would lose a lot. Most drivers usually enrol with both platforms to maximise their profits.

Also, I am pretty sure there will be a new player who will come along. Our market is huge, and it has enough space to accommodate several players.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

1) A massive strike leading to UBER driver exodus to OLA in Bangalore which was their key market.
.

This might be a desired result considering the speculated sell out of UBER to OLA

[mykal shoemaker]

I think Uber already started reducing their quality, no of people in support desk etc.
I recently had a trip where a toll was charged twice (Both by driver and app). My customer support ticket got attended only after around 5 or 6 hours later. Also, earlier they used to refund without much questions. But at present their standard replies are always a :No refund". Looks like good old days of professionalism at Uber is over. Once it lands to OLA, I am sure the monopoly will make the already poor OLA lower the bar further.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Our market is huge, and it has enough space to accommodate several players.

With their deteriorating customer service, a new player with *some* standards would be welcome.

Booked a ride from Gurgaon to Satya Niketan Delhi on 4th-May at 2.30pm or so. The upfront fare shown was around 280 including a 40 something discount.

The driver's phone was not showing the correct route, his location kept fluctuating here and there. I didn't think of it much at the time and offered to navigate via my phone.

Once I reach the destination, fare shown is 419!

When I check the bill later, it says tolls for 262, while the cab has crossed only 1 toll that's the MCD one to enter Delhi for 100 odd bucks. The 150 extra added in the bill are for the airport toll - the cab never went into that toll.

Have raised this through the App/Twitter and what not, but it is too complicated for Uber's AI to understand.

The route captured by Uber due to the faulty GPS of the driver. There is NO road along the route that's captured!



This is the actual route taken.



You will also see a difference of 4-5 kms in the fare.

And this is what the customer care replies after continuous follow-ups.

I am trying to find out how can I complaint to the Delhi Govt.'s transport department as well. They are acting as if they don't have an obligation to solve issues!

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Once I reach the destination, fare shown is 419!

When I check the bill later, it says tolls for 262, while the cab has crossed only 1 toll that's the MCD one to enter Delhi for 100 odd bucks. The 150 extra added in the bill are for the airport toll - the cab never went into that toll.

Wow. This is what happens when you rely only on technology and good for nothing educated morons as employees with a fixed script. The worst is that you cannot talk to a person and try and make him understand. It was so easy to solve this in your case by simply asking their driver about the actual route taken.

Also these days both UBER and OLA have started looting in the name of cheap rides. The cheap part has gone away. Almost all rides that I take these days are charged at an average rate of 25 rs per km regardless of what base price and per km fare they advertise in the hatchback segment namely MICRO/MINI/GO category.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Wow. This is what happens when you rely only on technology and good for nothing educated morons as employees with a fixed script. The worst is that you cannot talk to a person and try and make him understand. It was so easy to solve this in your case by simply asking their driver about the actual route taken.

Also these days both UBER and OLA have started looting in the name of cheap rides. The cheap part has gone away. Almost all rides that I take these days are charged at an average rate of 25 rs per km regardless of what base price and per km fare they advertise in the hatchback segment namely MICRO/MINI/GO category.

I know. They 'can' if they 'want' to. But I guess they don't care anymore. These days it's difficult to get them to go anywhere. A few cancellations are a given.

[avdhesh15]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Also these days both UBER and OLA have started looting in the name of cheap rides. The cheap part has gone away. Almost all rides that I take these days are charged at an average rate of 25 rs per km regardless of what base price and per km fare they advertise in the hatchback segment namely MICRO/MINI/GO category.

Agreed... in Mumbai the other day I was charged some insane surge pricing but I had to book considering the circumstances. It was a MICRO and I got a 10+ year old Cool Cab! The driver mentioned that they have also now started migrating to Ola considering higher earnings as compared to taxi fares. The car was horribly maintained (smelly and dirty).

[Ambersariya87]

Both the companies have come to a point where they are actually milking both customers and drivers alike. I have been a regular user of ola/uber for my office commute for last 2 years. I remember when I used to get rides for ₹120 for around 11 kms ride in office hours, gone are those days now. Drivers crib that they have to work at stretch to earn the incentive and some have resort to working at odd hours like 6:30 pm to 3 am to earn enough. But I have had enough now, try to make maximum use of my car now.
For airport runs I always book a meru, atleast they send cars at odd times, which ola/uber can't be trusted with

[mpksuhas]

Came across this article in today's Hindu Bangalore edition.

According to it, commercial license is not required for driving taxis as per Supreme courts order in July 2017.

As of now, only KA transport department has endorsed the ruling, Ola & Uber expects to get more drivers on their platform using this.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by Ambersariya87

Both the companies have come to a point where they are actually milking both customers and drivers alike. I have been a regular user of ola/uber for my office commute for last 2 years. I remember when I used to get rides for ₹120 for around 11 kms ride in office hours, gone are those days now.

Your complaint is that Ola/Uber have stopped subsidising rides.

Originally Posted by Ambersariya87

For airport runs I always book a meru, atleast they send cars at odd times, which ola/uber can't be trusted with

If you book a car with Meru the previous night for a morning airport ride, then Meru takes the booking but doesn't actually book it. Only around 20 minutes before your time, they start looking for a cab. This is because at night, they won't know which driver is in which place at the time you want to your ride. So you have as much chance of not getting a ride with Meru as with Ola/Uber. Has happened to me occasionally.

[ankan.m.blr]

Some good news for Ola/Uber users from the city of joy!

App-cab aggregators have agreed to restrict their surge pricing formula to .45x of the base fare in any ride category, according to the transport department.

This happened after an inquiry was initiated from the W.B. Transport Department regarding surge pricing of these app-based cab aggregators.

Read the full story here.

[Caramba]

Off late in Bangalore I find it next to impossible to get a cab during peak hours. Have had to stop relying on cabs. Do not know what is happening with this taxi revolution, but I am contemplating getting a driver, simply to park the car wherever I go.

Wait times on Ola are invariably 10-15 minutes which in real time means about half an hour. Uber never has cabs, so much so, from preferred app, I have stopped using Uber except in the CBD on weekends.

[ksameer1234]

Originally Posted by Caramba

Off late in Bangalore I find it next to impossible to get a cab during peak hours.

Had similar experience when I was in Bangalore last week. Either there would be no cabs available or if there were a few visible, the one assigned would take good 15-20 minutes to reach. Comparing with cities like Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Delhi it looks as though there are considerably less cabs in Bangalore.

And the cab fare is shocking! In Pune, the fares are in the ballpark of 10-12 Rs/km normally and get pushed to 18-20 Rs/km with surge. Bangalore though seems to have normal time fare of 20 Rs/km. I saw some surge as well and presented fare was ridiculous, to put mildly.