[rajivr1612]

Over the post few days I have noticed that it is not possible to book Ola-Mini using the "ride later" option. A message appears stating only sedan and prime can be booked using this option.
As a result I went with Meru Genie.
But this wasn't the case atleast till 2nd week of this month wherein I used Ola-Mini with ride later option extensively.
Anyone else noticed this?
I stay in Chennai.

[noopster]

^^Interestingly a Uber driver started my trip before I had even reached the cab. I was in touch with him on the phone and when I saw him from the window, took my bags and headed down, i.e. I didn't make him wait. I gave him a 3* rating which prompts a mandatory review feedback on the driver and complained about this. They immediately got back to me saying it was unacceptable and that the driver has been warned and the comment put on his record. Pretty awesome.

[reverse_gear]

For the last few months have been using the book later option on Taxiforsure, especially when I am taking flights (typically from Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, etc to Mumbai). Usually book when I am about to board the flight and the car is ready to pick me up when I land. This is a massive convenience as otherwise it can be quite difficult to get Meru, Tabcab, etc. at the airport. This is especially so at peak evening times, when these counters run out of cabs.

Added to the convenience is the much cheaper rates as well as discounts offered by TFS and Ola. The wallet feature is also easy to use.

[subbarp]

I have had instances of late where a confirmed Ola cab did not arrive. As late as this afternoon, we had a booking for an airport drop for my family and no SMS arrived. On multiple reminders, I receive an SMS exactly at the scheduled time for which cab is booked. I call the driver and he happens to be 12 Km away (=45 min per Bangalore driving time).
I have now decided to revert back to my travel agent provided 4 hour/ 40 km cabs. they are much more expensive but there is somebody at the other end of a phone providing accurate picture and also provides a very personalized service.
The cab companies (my own view) are no better than the autos. Each have their own problems.

200 million $????

is it a lot of money for a service that can be duplicated very easily by a media house like ToI. I wonder if looking at the valuations that are floating around if we are heading for another dot com bust.

Box the current darling at Nasdaq is bleeding 10 million dollars a month and all the money is going to marketing and sales which means I don't know if this company is going to profitable if ever. yet.

editing and putting a relevant link for Box :-)

http://investorplace.com/ipo-playboo.../#.VMtw1un9nrc

[kisharchit]

Is there any cab service that accepts payment by cash on the spot and will be available at 6:15 in the morning? I will need to go from Dwarka to AIIMS.

[reverse_gear]

Originally Posted by kisharchit

Is there any cab service that accepts payment by cash on the spot and will be available at 6:15 in the morning? I will need to go from Dwarka to AIIMS.

Taxiforsure, ola, Meru...all of them accept cash payment on completion of journey. Only uber doesn't.

[balajisv]

Originally Posted by kisharchit

Is there any cab service that accepts payment by cash on the spot and will be available at 6:15 in the morning? I will need to go from Dwarka to AIIMS.

Ola and TaxiforSure both have options to pay cash.

[reverse_gear]

My experience with Taxiforsure has been progressively deteriorating.

At Bangalore airport a couple of weeks back, the car made me wait for at least 15 min for the pick-up. Then, when we started off, I noticed that he had not switched on the meter (he had also called me from a different number to the one mentioned on the booking). When I asked him, he pointed to his phone and said that he has been trying to switch on but the app does not seem to work. Did not bother much as it was a fixed fare booking. But after some time (when I was 10km into my journey) I got another message from TFS with another driver assigned and he called me for pick-up. What I noticed made me suspect that this was a group of cars that was probably using a single account to arrange multiple pick-ups. Seemed like a racket, and I gave feedback to TFS, but they don't seem to be bothered. Obviously, they lose commission, but since they have sold out to Ola and the VC funds have drowned them in dollars, they are probably not worried about the small matter of collecting commissions.

Since then, on the last 3-4 journeys, I have had a series of unsavoury experiences each time:
- cab assigned for pick up turns out to be nowhere near the pick up location (2 times)
- multiple cabs assigned for the same pick up for no reason whatsoever (2 times)
- wallet has been charged for journeys that I have not even done (Rs.445 charged and issue still not settled despite it being 10 days)
- poor driver manners - one of them kept talking on the phone till I warned him; another one kept calling at an unearthly hour in the morning completely irritating my wife

On the last trip, when a second cab was assigned and the driver called me while I was already on the road, the cab driver commented that there are a lot of problems with TFS, and he personally prefers Uber. He uses both services, but he claimed that Uber is more reliable.

I have done about 30 trips on TFS in the last few months, but it seems like they are running this like any other money-grab business now and are willing to allow their service standards to drop. Anyway, the owners probably feel that their job is done since they have now made more money than they would have dreamt of. Will be switching off from them shortly and taking business elsewhere.

[blue_pulsar]

I had two bad experiences with Ola recently

1. Incident 1 - I book a cab exactly an hour later with their "Ride later" option. The cab driver immediately calls me and says that he was available right then I should board the cab right away. Told him that it wasn't possible. Then he starts to negotiate, says half an hour. I told I couldn't. Then he requests me to cancel the cab and requested me not to complain to Ola because it would cost him his job. I oblidged sine it was my first bad experience. Booked a cab late with "Ride Now".

Incident 2 - Booked a cab with "Ride Now" which was supposedly 11 min away. I didn't get a call till the last 5 min. Tried calling him but he was 'out of coverage area'. Checked his location using app tracker and his cab was not moving, was quite a distance away. The app was still showing ETA of 11 min.

Also, the charge us a surcharge of 1.3x, 1.4x and 1.6x. Don't know how this is calculated.

Growing costs and ridiculously deteriorating service levels have made me re-thing if I should use Ola at all. Ola, if you are reading this, please take notice.

[masin4]

Originally Posted by blue_pulsar

I had two bad experiences with Ola recently

Also, the charge us a surcharge of 1.3x, 1.4x and 1.6x. Don't know how this is calculated.

Growing costs and ridiculously deteriorating service levels have made me re-thing if I should use Ola at all. Ola, if you are reading this, please take notice.

This article should give you some idea about the hidden surcharges that are in effect in Bangalore at least http://goo.gl/h24hEE as usual the RTO is awaiting directives to take any action

[reverse_gear]

On another note, the Budget has clarified the applicability of service tax on all aggregators of taxi services.

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/OSN...ggregator.html

Cab aggregators Ola, Uber, TaxiForSure and Meru Cabs all potentially face a large tax burden that may lead to a significant increase in costs and higher prices for their customers after the budget clarified that any company providing services under the aggregator model will be liable to pay service tax effective 1 March.

The increase in service tax to 14% from 12.36% will also lead to higher taxes for the large e-commerce firms Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal, but relatively much lower compared with the cab aggregators.

The aggregator or marketplace model is new in India and until now there has been a lack of clarity about what tax rules must apply toward Uber, Ola and TaxiForSure. These companies don’t own cars or even employ drivers; they simply connect users with drivers, using technology. Currently most taxi-hailing services such as Uber and TaxiForSure do not pay service tax, with Ola being an exception. That is now a thing of the past.

I have got messages from TFS re applicability of 4.944% service tax for all rides going forward. This will make the cabs more pricey going forward.

[sagarpadaki]

Ola is basically not able to sustain the juicy fares it offered earlier. Hence the austerity drive. At the outset the fare seems less but they add a multiplier at all times except from 11AM to 5PM. Saturday night I was charged at 1.6x at 10pm. This is ridiculous.

Basically the happy times of the cabs are coming to the end.

[blue_pulsar]

I also doubt the way they calculate the "Wait time". Am guessing this is GPS controlled. Also guessing, the time the GPS shows speed = 0 of speed < 5, so much time goes towards "Wait time". I'm surprised every time I see the wait time. It is definitely much more than the sum of signal waits. Ola need to be lot more transparant on this one.

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Saturday night I was charged at 1.6x at 10pm. This is ridiculous.

1.6x at 10pm is ridiculous.
Taking a guess on this one again, the surcharge increases if the cab is further than the pick up point. It also factors in the peak hours.
How do I know? Because I booked two cabs at the same time and the pick up point was in the same neighborhood. The one nearer to pickup point showed lower surcharge compared to the one further.

[ant_vas]

TaxiForSure is the worst among the lot. I tried to use them 3 times and each time the assigned driver said he can't come. So instead TSI upgrades me at the same price of a hatch and makes me wait for another 30-45 minutes for ride now feature!

Once i had booked TSI for wife and the assigned car wasn't moving on the map. The driver number provided went unanswered. So TSI assigns me a new car and says it will reach in 15 mins. For a pickup in koramangala 1st block, the car assigned was in JP nagar 2nd phase! it would have taken a good hour thru evening rush hour traffic thru BTM and silk board! I asked the driver of this second car to cancel the trip and i was charged minimum amount for this trip. After complaining it was reversed.

On another occasion, booked Ola for parents from banashankari 3rd stage to yesvantpur station. The driver came 30 mins early and took parents via nayandanahalli, ring road, nandini layout, mahalaxmi layout to yesvantpur.

complaining to Ola resulted in to a standard response: we have reprimanded the driver, sorry for the inconvenience caused. I had to show them receipts of TSI and Uber only then they realized that the cost of this trip was 50% more and promptly refunded after 4 email exchanges.

I always had very good experience with Uber. The cars are clean, drivers very well behaved and now with the fares being reduced in bangalore its a lot better then using auto! The cars and drivers of Ola and TSI definitely need a lot of improvement.