[RSR]

I took my first ride (actually rides - both to & fro) with Utoo yesterday.

The good bits - there is no surge pricing and all cars are new ones! Otherwise, the experience and rates are quite similar to Uber & Ola. The bad bit - cash payment is the only option available for now.

Like Uber, there are three categories:

Utoo Compact - Datsun GO+

Utoo Sedan - Nissan Sunny

Utoo SUV - Nissan Evalia

It looks like Utoo did a deal with Nissan and got great rates for their cars. I was quite surprised to get a Datsun GO+ when I booked a(n) Utoo Compact, since it's a petrol powered vehicle. Almost instinctively, I turned around after getting in to see if there was an LPG tank at the rear, but it wasn't present - very surprising indeed.

That nasty last row "seats" were removed in both the cars I travelled in. So Utoo are basically using the Datsun GO+ as a 5-seater hatchback with a large boot. I must mention that the GO+ is surprisingly spacious & comfortable! Also, both the cars I got were top end T(O) variants with a driver airbag!

Utoo drivers are putting the GO+'s basic ICE (integrated mobile holder & USB charger with door-mounted speakers) to the best use possible. It's almost as if Datsun had ride aggregators in mind when they designed this kind of ICE.

If Datsun add a diesel option to the GO+ while simultaneously providing a better NVH package, the GO+ would simply be unbeatable as a taxi!!!

Utoo is yet another venture started by the famous serial entrepreneur, C Sivasankaran.

[Ananthc]

Hi All- I had travelled extensively in ola in Mumbai for last 15 days and I can vouch that not even once the drivers have denied duty or even asked the payment mode whether cash or ola money. However am back in chennai the Saga starts where most of the drivers ask the payment mode and some guys refuse/ ask us to get down after the trip starts. In one instance I was in a hurry to go to the airport and the guy asked to me get down once he knew I am paying by olamoney and was forced to get down with my bags. The irony is that he did not cancel my trip and was charged around 150 and had to write emails to ola complaining about the driver and my refund which eventually got credited. In summary I guess this payment issue may be city wise?

[smack_himanshu]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

Uber seem to have started it, but seems to be a phased system. after going through some three cancellations for a tambaram - chennai central trip, i got a guy who was happy to go. Turns out that he was not running on a trip based incentive, but a revenue based one. After talking to a couple of more uber drivers, it seems newer uber drivers are being assigned a revenue based target for incentives, while the older ones still continue with the trip based ones. The guy I met was happy with the revenue based target, as he preferred a few long trips rather than hunting around for a bunch of shorter trips.

During one of my rides with Uber, driver explained that Uber has started revenue based incentives. As per him, if he did rides with revenue amounting to Rs.1600 , he would get around Rs.3000.

Uber would deduct some % based fee from Rs. 3000 and handover the remaining to the driver on next weekly cycle. Also, Uber has weekly payouts as compared to Ola or others.

[balajisv]

Uber plans bus, mini-van sharing service in India

The planned bus and mini-van service is called Uber Everything, similar to UberHop that has been piloted in several markets.

http://www.livemint.com/Companies/Dd...-in-India.html

[hserus]

Some such services that started in bangalore ran afoul of RTO almost immediately. (Edit) For example - http://m.thehindu.com/news/cities/ba...cle7670500.ece

They don't seem to appreciate any competition to the state transport corporation bus services.

Besides - these vehicles that Uber lines up are likely to be the same Traveller and Mahindra vans used as office cabs, that are already such a byword on our roads for rash driving. So this new move doesn't fill me with very much confidence.

[greenhorn]

Interesting article:

How cab drivers play the system to outwit Ola and Uber

“Sometimes, it just doesn’t makes sense waiting for the passenger to come, and if it is peak traffic times, we cancel the ride and ensure that the customer pays for it. In that way, we don’t lose our incentive,” says a cab driver present on both Ola and Uber.

This is a common hack. It is commonly known as ‘No Show Fraud’. There are times when a customer books a cab and is charged for the ride, but the driver doesn’t show up. It is one of the many hacks that cab drivers use.

The recent tweet by a pool passenger on the different hacks that drivers use to cheat the system and make more money raised quite a few questions.

On the condition of anonymity, a former Ola employee gave us a set of hacks that drivers use to break the system.
...
...

Read more: https://yourstory.com/2016/10/cab-dr...acks-ola-uber/

[mpksuhas]

Got this email from Ola today.

RS 499 from airport to city, limited to 50km drive.

Not sure if toll charges are additional to this, though it's not mentioned in mail I doubt it will have to be paid by the user.



Also, had received another mail from Ola couple of days back mentioning about a newly opened Ola zone at Bangalore central station . A good move which I hope will bring down the waiting time and confusion about location of waiting cab.

[Chetan_Rao]

The better half is a staunch supporter of mass public transport and prefers not to take individual transport if she can help it.

A situation today necessitated a cab, and I cajoled her into trying Uber. She apparently made some errors while setting up an account and got locked out, asked to contact support.

When contacted, support just said her account has been suspended permanently. On being pressed, they offered a vague 'suspicious activity' explanation and refused any further help.

I appreciate their system being robust enough to catch what maybe suspicious activity, but refusing to help a genuine customer who may have inadvertently made a mistake and is asking for help is just absurd. Left a really bitter taste in our mouths, and she's swore off Uber for good after reluctantly agreeing to try in the first place. I'll probably follow suit if they don't remedy this.

[noopster]

Noticed a nifty feature of the Uber app. Wifey needed to go to a city hospital for an appointment but wasn't sure of the route and parking options so she took an Uber. The app is on my phone and I was in another city on work. When I fired up Uber and gave the pickup point in my home city, the app asked me, "Is this booking for someone else?" and allowed me to add a contact (name and number) of the person to be picked up.

I then got busy with my work and to my surprise about 10 minutes later my wife called to say she was in the cab headed to get destination. The cabbie called her directly to coordinate. Big change from the past when I've had to send her a screenshot of the car number plus call the driver from the app, copy his number and send that separately to her to call.

Best thing is for the return trip it gave me the option of selecting Me, Wife or someone else (new). Extremely well designed and user friendly feature- 5*

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

RS 499 from airport to city, limited to 50km drive.

Not sure if toll charges are additional to this, though it's not mentioned in mail I doubt it will have to be paid by the user.....

The 499 INR fee mentioned is inclusive of 120 INR toll. Below are the rates before adding toll.
Interesting, them starting a price war with Uber, whose comparable service is charged 549 INR.

[deehunk]

Yesterday I had a miraculous escape from being killed thanks to the quality of cab drivers on the road. What an experience to recall, on an isolated road near Nagarabhavi, I see a tractor making a right turn into a fuel station, the indicators were ON. The driver of my cab who had to go straight decides to overtake the tractor from right lane knowing very well it is difficult to execute. He decides to take a chance and makes a valiant attempt, as the distance reduces, I know what is going to happen, my wife sitting at the back starts shouting. The driver is now staring at a head on collision with the tractor and tries a panic braking, it is a non-ABS Maruti Ritz, how can it handle the expectations of a driver with an empty head, the cab went and banged against the tractor. Luckily the tractor driver managed to turn his vehicle in time, resulting in a collision of our cab with the rear wheels. Probably death was 4 inches to my right side. Now question to app based taxi facilitators, you are in a daylight robbery business, can you find this vehicle if I do not provide the Booking number.
This is the second incident when I was involved in a frontal collision in 2016 while travelling in a cab with a bad driver. My first experience was in April 2016 while coming back from Dharmasthala in Zippy's cab, I was stranded on Charmadi ghat with a driver who did not have night driving experience and how to replace a spare wheel. I had to drive back the damaged cab for almost 300kms till my home to ensure my safety.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by deehunk

Yesterday I had a miraculous escape from being killed thanks to the quality of cab drivers on the road.

Can absolutely relate to it. Recently took a Uber from Kalbadevi to Navi Mumbai; the driver who turned up was driving the car in his lifetime for 2nd day. There were many incidents which made me think to stop the cab and get down.

Seriously, these cab aggregators need to take people with prior experience. All these newly found cab drivers are jeopardising live of people within the cab and outside.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Is there no licence above an ordinary one required for drivers of commercial vehicles?

[dhruv45in]

I am a victim of this 'Indian Taxi revolution'. On Sep 3 my parents were involved in a hit and run accident involving an Uber. My parents were riding on a two wheeler and the uber car hit their scooter from the rear left side. While my father was wearing a helmet and sustained superficial injuries, my mom who was not wearing a helmet fell on her head causing multiple fractures and brain injury. She is in coma still fighting for her life.
My brother took it up with Uber on twitter and after some discussions they offered us some help but backed out after a few weeks and no communication from them since.
I really want to take them to the court but I am not sure wether I can claim a compensation from them legally as according to Uber they are mere a facilitator and the cab belongs to the driver and any insurance or injury claim has to go via the insurance company. They are denying any legal implication and said whatever help they were extending was because they felt 'morally' responsible for the situation. But in all very irresponsible behavior from these taxi providers as they think they can evade the laws and implications due to poor laws in India.

[hserus]

They can always claim that - but take them to court and put this sad story on social media and pretty soon they will fall over themselves to bear the medical expenses. Did they already offer to bear all expenses, "moral obligation" or not?

It may take much longer to do so given the significant brain injuries and risk of death to your mother in this case (for which please accept my regrets and best wishes)

Was their driver fully insured so you can claim against his insurance as well?