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-   -   Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/151955-review-uber-premium-taxi-service-12.html)

I guess you were misinformed, Uber does come under RBI guidelines, as you will see in the appended article they have asked for an extension from RBI to comply with their rules http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-1...dia-norms.html

Since my last post, I have completely shifted from Ola Premium to Uber Black - mainly due to ready availability post partying late night in key areas in Mumbai.

New things that I found out (Mumbai specific):
- Flat 25% discount now in Mumbai on all UberX and Uber Black rides
- A ride from Churchgate to Borivali (36kms) at 2am in UberX costed me just Rs475, this is cheaper than an auto rickshaw night rate
- Ease of getting in and out will not last forever, it will now be dependent on OTP post Nov 30th :-(
- Cars have now changed, my last few rides had City/Corolla/Innova/Vento (Uber Black) and Verito / DZire (UberX)
- Though the cars have been downgraded, service continues to be top notch and super courteous
- Pickups are now available at Borivali too (it was upto malad till last week)
- I have simply stopped taking rickshaws, car, bike, cabs and completely on Uber now for anything more than 5km :D

I have used Uber app number of times and i find the final fare i am paying to be less than meru/mega cabs.

Also uber never cancels the booking unlike the other taxi services and will come for even a distance of 1KM.

Two days back landed in pune, fired the uber app and got a Duster! i was surprised seeing a duster as is not one of the cars you get in bangalore in either black/uberx category.

chatted with the driver and got to know that he was allowed to attach duster to uber by mistake! when uber started in pune, the pune uber folks weren't aware of which cars are allowed and which are not. So this guy got the bank processing done and a letter from RTO indicating that the car is attached to Uber. From them on no duster is allowed.

The pre-paid taxi from pune airport to hinjewadi costs around 550-600 in Eco (depending on the route driver takes), but with uber black it came to around 545!

Once i had a brand new dezire picking me from pune airport, but there were few mosquitos in the car. i left a comment while leaving the driver rating and i got an apology email in 2 hours and an assurance that such things will be taken care in the future.

In bangalore a airport run from banashankari cost around 950 in meru/mega, with uberx its around 750-850 (depending on the traffic).

I have chatted with almost all the driver to understand if they are happy with uber and always the answer has been yes! they make good money and no tension to warn a minimum amount to pay for daily car fee. and if they want just switch off the app and they are free to serve their personal customers/out station trips. Uber doesn't have any compulsion on them to do minimum no of trips per day. Also uber pays them fixed charge of around 350/- for UberBlack if the fare is less than that.

But yes they do have a incentive program where on completing some 5 trips or so they get 350/500 depending on uberx/black

Overall i feel its a great way to commute.

Uber-X Fare Comparison (automatic 25% discount applied)

• Bandra to Kemps corner (13.5km, post midnight) : Black&Yellow = Rs. 200 + 55 toll. Uber = Rs. 245 (including toll). Cheaper by 10 bucks!

• Kemps Corner to Shivaji Park (9km) : Black&Yellow Rs. 130-140. Uber = Rs. 150. AC convenience for just Rs. 10 extra!!



** Some interesting tidbits of info below! Note that its all based purely on conversations with drivers **


How Much $$ do the Drivers Take Home?
• Currently drivers get 80% of the total fare (before fare discounts) while Uber gets the remaining 20%
• So if customers are getting a 25% discount on the total fare, Uber is paying that additional 5% to the drivers (75% --> 80%) out of pocket? Are they running at a loss in order to scale their fleet as fast as they can?
• Uber-X's minumum payment to driver's is Rs. 150. Minimum payment to Uber Black drivers is Rs. 200 (regardless of length of trip). Note that minimum charges for customers are Rs. 125 for X and Rs. 200 for Black - so Uber is either paying out of pocket or not earning on short trips.
• All drivers i spoke to were clueless about Surge Pricing and who gets the benefit of it / what split. (Does surge pricing still exist, or do they just remove the 25% discount?).

Driver Tricks :)
• While crossing the Bandra-Worli Sealink at night, my driver opted for a return fare (Rs. 83) despite me only wanting to go 1 way (Rs. 55). He said, he was willing to bet he'd get another fare in town wanting to cross the bridge again, and he'd use the return trip. Uber however reimburses him Rs. 55 per trip! Leading to a possible Rs. 27 profit :D
• Ever get a missed call from an Uber driver and wonder why? Well, they have to pay their own cellphone bills, and if you call back its free for them! Some drivers complained that they had to payment-recharge their phones much more often due to all the calling customers.

From the Other Side
• When idle, the driver's map shows areas with many active Uber users/requests in a different colour - so they can strategically move towards those 'hot' areas.
• Uber requests first go to the cabs closest to the user. The drivers have 18 seconds to accept a fare, after which it moves on to the next batch of cars.
• When the driver cancels a trip, the app gives them multiple options (eg. traffic/car problems, customer no-show/unreachable, etc) and they have to choose one.
• Uber gives the drivers the iPhone with absolutely NO security deposit. Eat that Vodafone!
• The only requirement to keep it is that the driver must make at least 1 trip every 15 days.
• The iPhone is locked mainly to the Uber app. The only other apps that work are the Calendar, Calculator & Camera.
• Drivers said they had heard of others' phones getting stolen whilst they were asleep in their car waiting for a possible fare.
• Now that Uber's adoption in Mumbai has passed the early tech-friendly adopter stage and gone more mainstream, many less-tech-friendly users are pointing out wrong locations on the map, or relying on GPS when it hasn't actually got a proper lock - leading the drivers astray.

cya
R

Thank You Rehaan for all that info. :) BTW, paying the two-way fare on Sealink was a smart move, cuz it is valid for 24hrs(isn't it?), so quite good chances that it will come to use in that time frame.

Might be an obvious answer but still for my information, the fuel cost is completely borne by the drivers, isn't it?

-Bhargav

Discount still applies but first they charge the 1.5X then apply the 25% discount.

Another point to Uber. Friday evening 6 PM. Wife needs to go for an office event. Megacabs booked the previous day cancels around noon on Friday. Taxiforsure booked, booking accepted, but no confirmation. Tried the different apps for instant cabs around 6. No luck (including Uber). Finally got lucky with Uber. The app indicated Surge pricing in effect and the availability was under Uber Black . So I assumed it would become expensive. But did not have a choice. Neatly maintained Innova arrived in 15 min (Just understood from Rehaan's post as to why they give missed calls) :). Total distance was 16 KM and time was 1hr 10 min. Min Fare was Rs 80. 18 per KM and 2 per minute. Total Bill was ~Rs 370 including a Rs 125 discount which I felt was very reasonable considering the day and time and the fact that it was UberBlack.

Still very confused on their surge pricing concept and discounts etc... But happy with the final amount I paid!

I also keep hoping one of the luxury cars turn up. But all i get are Innova's :). Are the Luxury Germans available in Bangalore?

Uber has just added another incentive for new drivers: Uber Financing for New Cars

Today Uber has helped AS Pandey realise his dreams with Uber’s Vehicle Financing Program. He became one of the first of hundreds of drivers across the country to enroll under the program, proving that Uber is a preferred choice not just for riders, but also for partner-drivers. India is now the 1st country in Asia and 2nd country outside the US where Uber is rolling out vehicle financing for partner drivers, highlighting India’s strategic importance in Uber’s worldwide footprint.

We have partnered with top lending companies like Shriram Finance, AU Financiers and Toyota Financial Services and have created vehicle financing schemes with low down payment (as low as INR 60,000), superior finance rates and faster turn-around time, exclusive to Uber. In addition to the superior financing schemes, we’ve also worked out exclusive discounts on vehicles with leading auto companies like Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, and Toyota.

Source

True! Didn't think about that (was only thinking of it as a "for this shift" thing). Seems like a much safer bet now.

Yes, the drivers pay for the fuel themselves.

cya
R

when the OTP rule comes into effect, how will it be handled by Uber? They can't rely on us entering the OTP - because it would mean the rider can, potentially, not pay for a ride he has just undertaken. That would be too risky for Uber.

Maybe they would go to a pre-paid payment mechanism. You should top up your account before you use their services. That's an ugly additional step though from a consumer point of view.

It would be interesting to watch how this plays out.

The latest news I've heard is that Uber is tying up with PayTM. Now I don't know any more details or how it'll work, but apparently it will be a top up system.

Should be similar to how OLA cabs does it now. Make a deposit and then the amount goes on reducing as and when you avail their services

Uber has launched the payTM option for India. (Android & iOS)

More details at the official Uber blog: Link

I have been hearing about uber quite frequently.
So tried to give it a shot. Signed up, got 300Rs in credits. Took it for a few kms trip with 2X fare at that time. They charged me Rs 381, but they charged the whole amount to my credit card. Made another account tried again. Same thing. I lost ~ 700 bucks for two trips totalling to 15-18 KMs. They don't have any contact information on their website. Tried multiple times to contact them on their twitter/FB accounts but to no avail. What should I do? Feel kind of cheated. I only took the 2X fare because of the offer!

From what I've seen, they take a long time to respond, but they do respond.

Here's where to contact them via Email : https://support.uber.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

cya
R

Rehaan has already shared the help link. They do respond late which is my experience as well.
I had a similar experience like yours, my credit card was charged even though I had über credit. Once complaint was raised they took about 4 days to respond and they credited back INR 300 even though INR 236 was the actual fare.