[kaak009]

Terrible experience in the past few days with OLA especially. Dropped my girlfriend for an intercity with Ola. On the new delhi meerut expressway the drivers hands were surely not on the steering but inside his pants. Asked my girlfriend to get down and she had to somehow manage to get to Ghaziabad train station where I managed to reach and get her into one of the trains en route Meerut. Extremely pathetic this experience was for her. Post this I have shifted to chennai for work and here the autos with ola and uber are looting to no extent. My office is 1.5 kms and ola shows 80 rupees for the same which despite being on the higher side is okay with me. Yet the drivers have the audacity to call and demand a 100. Mind you this is auto.
I plan to get a scooter or something as I cant tolerate this level of loot.

[vennarbank]

Nearly stopped using Ola especially in Chennai. They have become similar to regular auto drivers asking for something more than what is being shown in the mobile. Uber and customer service are oxymoron. They have blocked my wife's account and unable to get it back. I have begin to go back to my old ways of using public transport as much as possible or do my own driving.

[Sunny_7937]

Have stopped using Ola for quite some time now. I had a knack of pre-booking a ride, since I always had either early morning flights or late night flights. On multiple occasions i found my ride was automatically cancelled and ride history doesn't even show the cancelled / scheduled ride.

[r4jt]

I prefer taking Ola/Uber auto-rickshaws for short distances instead of cabs. I avoid hailing an auto-rickshaw on the street as they can sometimes overcharge. Also, negotiating with the rickshaw driver can be a hassle, so it's much more convenient for me to book an auto-rickshaw through the Ola/Uber app. Auto-rickshaws have better ventilation on both sides and are generally cheaper than cabs. In contrast, most cabs tend to be smelly and dirty.

[samm]

Almost always use my own car, as much as I can.

No Ola in Bangalore, unless I have ample time, and my car is not an option

Reasons - poor cabs, not sure what quality of car will come, whether AC will work or not, and too expensive for what we get.

For Airport, Shoffr. or Meru.

[ankitsharma]

Almost not using it except for emergency/unavoidable cases.

I agree with GTO here that the quality has gone down the pit. Till 2019 I used to book Uber over Ola in Bengaluru since the availability of the latter was an issue itself.
I switched to Uber Premier just to get good quality and clean cabs. But in the last few months where I have used Uber explicitly, for work and personal usage both, I have got only smelly and shaky cabs.
Quality has really gone down the drain. I am already exploring alternatives in case of Airport travel. BluSmart was good and eco-friendly in Delhi with the only downside that the speed is limited to 60 KMPH.
Will be trying Meru next time.

[Sonali Singh]

For about 3 years after having sold my first car, I was an extensive Ola user till before the pandemic. At the time, I had noticed the deteriorating quality of its cabs, especially that unbearable and unmistakable odour.

Once the pandemic hit, I started thinking about buying a car, something I had thought I would never need to do (I had been hoping the cabs would get only more prevalent). These were just random thoughts, as no one needed to go anywhere in those days. And then the Thar was announced and I took it as good omen and I booked it the same month!

Since then I have used Ola when the car has gone for servicing. And when I travel to Delhi by flight, I use the local neighbourhood cab in Delhi and use the airport bus in BLR.

[Neversaygbye]

While I still use Ola and Uber mostly it is out of necessity. Given a choice I always try to find an alternative. The reasons have been mentioned time in many of the earlier posts - the drivers are unprofessional, the cars are run down and the cost is high.

When Ola and Uber started they were really value for money but once they started monetizing their platform they lost their edge and the drivers also got greedy.

Till the time there was the pool functionality, I used Uber and Ola extensively since the value for money quotient was great even though it usually came at the cost of an increased journey time. Uber airport pool in Bangalore literally halved the cost of a trip to the airport, and it was an excellent option if one didn't have too much luggage.

However, those days are gone, and considering that most Uber and Ola cabs are now poorly maintained and driven by rogues (especially in Calcutta, where I live now), I prefer using alternatives if available. I have found Blu Smart in Delhi to be quite amazing, and am looking forward to using the corresponding Snap E EV taxis in Calcutta in the near future.

[FanaticOnWheels]

Originally Posted by kaak009

Terrible experience in the past few days with OLA especially. Dropped my girlfriend for an intercity with Ola. On the new delhi meerut expressway the drivers hands were surely not on the steering but inside his pants. Asked my girlfriend to get down and she had to somehow manage to get to Ghaziabad train station where I managed to reach and get her into one of the trains en route Meerut. Extremely pathetic this experience was for her. Post this I have shifted to chennai for work and here the autos with ola and uber are looting to no extent. My office is 1.5 kms and ola shows 80 rupees for the same which despite being on the higher side is okay with me. Yet the drivers have the audacity to call and demand a 100. Mind you this is auto.
I plan to get a scooter or something as I cant tolerate this level of loot.

I am a resident of Chennai, and well aware of the loot by the autowallahs & also Ola. Uber is good, but quite rare. I have switched over to fast track - might be expensive for short runs, but for longer runs in the city, fast track is a lot more reliable & do not overcharge. They also have an app, albeit not the best built, it just about works.

[sagarpadaki]

Most of the Uber/Ola hatchback are in trash condition. Sedans are better maintained. Of the last 5 hatchbacks that I booked from Ola/Uber 4 were rickety Indicas' with stained seats, smelly and dirty interiors and one was a decent condition Ritz. The suspension was shot in 2 of the Indica and made horrible noise when going over bumps and ruts.

Nowadays, I book only Auto's from Ola/Uber. Sometimes they cost 1.5x the normal price based on the surge but I prefer the open airy Autorickshaw over the closed smelly cab.

[Sanjunair5]

I have had multiple experiences with Uber where I felt they weren't ethical. The app would show one fare while booking and a seriously inflated fare at drop-off. I can understand that fares can change if traffic situations change. But there were no such scenarios in almost all cases where I felt conned. And Uber would also reverse the inflated fare within minutes of you raising a concern. The whole thing, to me, looks like an attempt to make a customer pay more when they aren't paying attention.

This, along with other issues most others here have pointed out, like unreliable services, poor quality of vehicles and frequent cancellations by drivers has made me not think of Uber/Ola as my first means of alternate transport (primary being driving my own car).

Many reliable drivers are available these days for airport drops and long-distance travel.

So, net net, my Ola/Uber usage these days is only when nothing else is possible.

[clevermax]

I completely stopped using Uber & Ola or any online taxi services in India. They are unreliable, they want us to cancel the rides, pay directly, and so on. Too much hassle. Whenever I visit Bangalore, I call up my trusted taxi guy, who has a closed-group of taxi drivers who work together. One of them picks me up from the airport and so far it has been super reliable and trouble-free.

[shankar.balan]

The experience has been steadily deteriorating these last several years.
Uber and Ola (in India at least) are no longer the ‘premium’ services they once showcased themselves to be.
Significant numbers of the drivers keep cancelling if the destination doesn't meet their preferences. Significant numbers of the cars are dusty and smelly and dirty. They never switch the AC on. One has to demand and then they grudgingly turn the switch on.
If one wants cleanliness and predictability it makes far better sense to get a day driver and use your own vehicle or to pay and rent a 4 hour car from a known local service.

[Autonorm]

I avoid using Uber/Ola these days unless it is for an airport drop/pickup. Still face a lot of issues with them. Parking/entry charges for airport are included in the final bill yet both Uber/Ola ask for extra amount for it. They have formed a mafia group at the airport and won't let any driver take the trip unless extra Rs. 100 is paid (Parking charges are Rs. 85).

Uber in Chandigarh is way overpriced as compared to Ola, so I usually end up using the latter. The cabs these days are not clean nor the AC works well in most cabs. Drivers are rude and many will call to "confirm" the destination and then cancel.

Had one Ola driver call me a cheat because I changed payment method from cash to Amazon pay during the ride as I was getting cashback offer.

[Acharya]

Any option in Mumbai other than Ola/Uber?
I have one day trip tomorrow, will be going to Nariman Point from Airport, what would be the best option?

In Blore Shoffr has been a bliss, using it regularly for airport runs, hope they expand it to other Metros.