Ola and Uber - unreliable in India?

[techynt]

My spouse is in Delhi/Ghaziabad and she says Ola cancels their reservation very frequently. Sometimes you get a ride after 3 tries.

Is this true everywhere, I used to think that drivers get punished if they cancel rides? And ratings matter and they fall if drivers dont behave well.

[farfromhome]

My spouse is in Delhi/Ghaziabad and she says Ola cancels their reservation very frequently. Sometimes you get a ride after 3 tries.

Is this true everywhere, I used to think that drivers get punished if they cancel rides? And ratings matter and they fall if drivers dont behave well.

I use Uber/Ola in Chennai to drop my kid and take a cab and come back (4 days a week). Haven't faced many issues with cancellation till now. They have been few and far in between. I cancel immediately if the wait time is more than 10 minutes (if you cancel after the car reaches your destination or it's near your destination, they charge you Rs. 50 cancellation fee).

As for the cancellation of drivers, I think they can't do many cancellations as some amount is deducted if they make frequent cancellations (as per my conversations with few drivers).

These are the instances where my ride has been cancelled.

Ola Auto - He asked me if I had entered any coupon code. When I told him that it comes by default, he said it's not economically viable for him to ply at that rate and asked me to cancel (I refused and said, it he is rejecting the ride then he should be the one to cancel)

Uber - He had to make a U Turn of 50 metres to pick up me and go in the direction he was travelling. He asked me to jump the median and come to his vehicle (since I was going in that direction). I refused and he cancelled immediately.

Ola Rentals - They come to your place, ask for the estimate. Ask me to cancel the ride but I can pay the estimate (minus the cancellation charges incurred by me). It seems Ola Charges them around 30% as commission for rentals and they don't want use this option. Wasn't very happy with the driver when he said this but had no other choice as I had to drop someone at the airport on time.

The above instances have been over a period of 6 months.

[techynt]

Seems like Amazon needs to start a marketplace for car rentals.......until then these providers will keep charging 15-30%, which is insanely high for just running IT infrastructure and payment processing.

I use Uber/Ola in Chennai to drop my kid and take a cab and come back (4 days a week). Haven't faced many issues with cancellation till now. They have been few and far in between. I cancel immediately if the wait time is more than 10 minutes (if you cancel after the car reaches your destination or it's near your destination, they charge you Rs. 50 cancellation fee).

As for the cancellation of drivers, I think they can't do many cancellations as some amount is deducted if they make frequent cancellations (as per my conversations with few drivers).

These are the instances where my ride has been cancelled.

Ola Auto - He asked me if I had entered any coupon code. When I told him that it comes by default, he said it's not economically viable for him to ply at that rate and asked me to cancel (I refused and said, it he is rejecting the ride then he should be the one to cancel)

Uber - He had to make a U Turn of 50 metres to pick up me and go in the direction he was travelling. He asked me to jump the median and come to his vehicle (since I was going in that direction). I refused and he cancelled immediately.

Ola Rentals - They come to your place, ask for the estimate. Ask me to cancel the ride but I can pay the estimate (minus the cancellation charges incurred by me). It seems Ola Charges them around 30% as commission for rentals and they don't want use this option. Wasn't very happy with the driver when he said this but had no other choice as I had to drop someone at the airport on time.

The above instances have been over a period of 6 months.

[direstraits88]

Based on my interaction with Ola/Uber drivers over the past few years in Bangalore, i have noticed the business model is different now. In the early heady days, a driver would take a personal loan, buy a car and drive for Ola/Uber. There was a daily incentive of Rs 2500 if they complete 10 or more trips in a 8-12 hour shift. This was in addition to the generous rate per km. So these drivers were happy with shorter rides. Some would earn 75k to 1 Lac per month after their loan payment.

These incentives have disappeared now. Those cars are 2-3 years old and need maintenance. So it turned into a race to the bottom It is now difficult to drive enough miles to earn 2500 per day.

So many of these Ola/Uber cabs are driven by newcomers to the big city from small towns. Many such cabs would be owned by a single person. The drivers are required to collect a min of 2500 in 12 hours to earn 500 rupees. If they are unable to do so, they don't get paid for the day. So they tend to cancel short rides during peak times. The last time i visited bangalore the 20 year old kid driving me to the airport was into his 14th hour of the day and still a few hundred short for the day. This was after a short rest of 3 hours sleep the previous night.

He said he had come to Bangalore from Hubli a week ago and someone in his town recommended him to this Uber car owner for whom he started driving. So he didn't want to disappoint the owner. I didn''t have the heart to tell him that he won't last more than a month or two at that rate. I gave him 500 extra and asked him to sleep in his car till morning as he was a danger to others on the road while driving sleep deprived.

So no one there is driving to keep their ratings. The ones who are still driving an Ola/Uber cab is just desperate to make a living.

[greyfri]

In Delhi, I've found them very good, but of course I've only used them for limited periods when in India.

[poofygoogle]

I have used Ola many times too in Chennai and never had issues. The couple of times I cancelled was due to a longer wait times like more than 10 mins. Most of my friends use it and have only been all praises for it. It's so popular in Chennai that it's hard to get in peak times. They clearly mention the rates and has been the cheapest rather than bargaining with auto persons.


Sent from my Redmi 5 using Tapatalk

[techynt]

Thats what I thought that something does not appear right, seems like it has now become very chaotic and unreliable maybe because the rates are very low.

From what I have heard, they simply switch off their cell phones with the hope that you will cancel your ride before the wait threshold is reached.

I wonder if my folks may not be aware of the system and they maybe telling the driver the destination as soon as they book the travel and he calls them to inquire.

Based on my interaction with Ola/Uber drivers over the past few years in Bangalore, i have noticed the business model is different now. In the early heady days, a driver would take a personal loan, buy a car and drive for Ola/Uber. There was a daily incentive of Rs 2500 if they complete 10 or more trips in a 8-12 hour shift. This was in addition to the generous rate per km. So these drivers were happy with shorter rides. Some would earn 75k to 1 Lac per month after their loan payment.

These incentives have disappeared now. Those cars are 2-3 years old and need maintenance. So it turned into a race to the bottom It is now difficult to drive enough miles to earn 2500 per day.

So many of these Ola/Uber cabs are driven by newcomers to the big city from small towns. Many such cabs would be owned by a single person. The drivers are required to collect a min of 2500 in 12 hours to earn 500 rupees. If they are unable to do so, they don't get paid for the day. So they tend to cancel short rides during peak times. The last time i visited bangalore the 20 year old kid driving me to the airport was into his 14th hour of the day and still a few hundred short for the day. This was after a short rest of 3 hours sleep the previous night.

He said he had come to Bangalore from Hubli a week ago and someone in his town recommended him to this Uber car owner for whom he started driving. So he didn't want to disappoint the owner. I didn''t have the heart to tell him that he won't last more than a month or two at that rate. I gave him 500 extra and asked him to sleep in his car till morning as he was a danger to others on the road while driving sleep deprived.

So no one there is driving to keep their ratings. The ones who are still driving an Ola/Uber cab is just desperate to make a living.

[farfromhome]

Thats what I thought that something does not appear right, seems like it has now become very chaotic and unreliable maybe because the rates are very low.

From what I have heard, they simply switch off their cell phones with the hope that you will cancel your ride before the wait threshold is reached.

I wonder if my folks may not be aware of the system and they maybe telling the driver the destination as soon as they book the travel and he calls them to inquire.

This probably applies to Bangalore/Delhi etc and not Chennai.

The moment a cab gets assigned - I call the driver, tell him my location for pick up, my destination and that I will be paying by Cash (very important for Ola as the drivers seem to hate that Ola Money). Have had no issues .

Rates have been steadily increasing. What used be a 80-85 rupee ride couple of years back has gone to Rs. 120 now for Uber and between 130 and 140 for Ola (around 8 Kms). Monday morning is a nightmare because the fares are double or tripled at times (Peak Pricing).

[anwesha]

I have used it in Chennai several times with no problems at all. During our recent trip, was surprised to see Ola cabs with entertainment system too. :) It is a blessing for people like me who are not fluent with local language or the route.

[Pranjjal]

From what I have heard, they simply switch off their cell phones with the hope that you will cancel your ride before the wait threshold is reached.

I wonder if my folks may not be aware of the system and they maybe telling the driver the destination as soon as they book the travel and he calls them to inquire.

In that case choose a option of "Driver denied duty" as a reason for cancellation then you won't be charged.