[msdivy]

Here is Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber, charting out Uber's plan. BTW, his narrative has changed from disrupting taxi business, to reducing carbon footprint via uberPOOL

http://www.ted.com/talks/travis_kala...nto_fewer_cars

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by C'estlavie

This is happening because of Uber's payment model. If the cabbies do 10 (around that number) rides in a prescribed time, Uber pays them over and above what they would have earned on cab fare.

Below that number of rides, the cabbies make a lot less money. Hence their focus is on doing short rides, and get to the minimum number asap.

Customers are suffering because of this. It's really messed up.

Originally Posted by arvind71181

Almost every trip which is greater than 20 kms gets rejected or the driver asks to end the trip and restart midway. The problem with this is that during restart, other drivers might confirm which is again a problem. Hopefullu Uber realizes this and sorts it out soon

Customer Satisfaction be damned, "number of rides" is the only parameter that is required to justify their unrealistic valuation and investor sentiments. Hence they are pushing for shorter and more rides/day. Earlier no cab driver used to accept short rides, now it's the opposite.

[gm_arun]

Now you can book Ola cabs from Google Maps


Search engine giant Google has introduced a dedicated tab with the information on cab services in Google Maps. At the time of entering the destination, users will see an additional tab in the Google Maps app and they can opt either for Uber or Ola.

Source Link below.

Link

[Pallavi]

There is no difference between the service of Ola sedan or Ola prime nowadays. 1. Previously, Ola prime drivers never had any problem speaking in English. Recently, all the Ola prime drivers cant speak any language other than Kannada.
2. WiFi service provided in the cab is dodgy too. Never works or is slower than a 2G connection.
3. No difference in the cab make/models either. Sedan or Prime, i get Dzire EVERYTIME!! (hey that rhymes )
4. It might be just me but for the past few weeks, i feel car sick every time i travel in Ola Prime. Doesn't happen in our XUV.

Stopped opting for prime and moved to micro. Surprise, surprise!! No car sickness at all. I will opt for micro and save myself a lot of trouble and also some cash in the process.


Update: Just saw an email from Ola. Sedan is being discontinued in Bangalore, Delhi. Prime is the one to opt for if you want to book a sedan

[sriramv.iyer]

Originally Posted by Pallavi

There is no difference between the service of Ola sedan or Ola prime nowadays. 1. Previously, Ola prime drivers never had any problem speaking in English. Recently, all the Ola prime drivers cant speak any language other than Kannada.
2. WiFi service provided in the cab is dodgy too. Never works or is slower than a 2G connection.
3. No difference in the cab make/models either. Sedan or Prime, i get Dzire EVERYTIME!! (hey that rhymes )
4. It might be just me but for the past few weeks, i feel car sick every time i travel in Ola Prime. Doesn't happen in our XUV.

Stopped opting for prime and moved to micro. Surprise, surprise!! No car sickness at all. I will opt for micro and save myself a lot of trouble and also some cash in the process.

Update: Just saw an email from Ola. Sedan is being discontinued in Bangalore, Delhi. Prime is the one to opt for if you want to book a sedan

1. All Sedans, with drivers with good ratings are moved to Prime, and rest are moved to Mini (Despite being a sedan) - The rates are same as sedan

2. As a direct side effect, some of the drivers are not conversant in English. I travel frequently in Ola Prime, and almost all drivers spoke English (including a ride today)

3. WiFi is indeed an issue. It could also be a function of quota overrun or bad network.

[shankar.balan]

There is a cab service aggregator app called Scoot.
Very nice.
It gives you the best options of applicable cab service for any particular journey.
Somewhat similar to Skyscanner which does a similar thing with air fares.

[aargee]

Uber's motorcycle taxi experiment has rolled to a halt in India.

Roughly 80 motorcycles participating in new programs from Uber and homegrown rival Ola have been impounded by transportation authorities in Bangalore. The companies do not have have the proper permissions to offer motorcycle rides, regulators said.
Both companies have agreed to stop operating motortaxi services until they have applied for the proper permits, said Ramegowda, a state transportation official in Karnataka, who like many Indians uses only one name. Any vehicle that carries a passenger, whether it's a bus or a two-wheeler, needs a permit.

The seized vehicles are now in the possession of the courts, which will determine when they will be released, Ramegowda said.
Related: Uber invests $1 billion in Indian market

Uber and Ola simultaneously launched two-wheeler passenger services on March 3 in Bangalore, one of India's tech hubs. Uber was offering motorcycle rides for a base fee of 15 rupees (22 cents), and 3 rupees (half a cent) for each kilometer -- about 50% the price for a car.

Motorcycles are a popular alternative to cars as they are cheaper and can weave through traffic jams that choke India's major cities.

Uber and Ola did not respond to requests for comment.

Related: Uber's rivals are teaming up in Asia
The Indian government previously halted Uber's services in 2014 after an Uber driver raped a female passenger in New Delhi. The driver was sentenced to life in prison, and Uber added safety features to the app, including a panic button.

Source - http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/16/tech...inkId=22338472

[jaganm]

There were a bunch of articles yesterday stating that Uber has re-introduced the service after discussions with the authorities. They are now promoting it as a bike pooling service and not taking any service fees.

[D C]

Uber Drags Ola To Court, Accuses It Of Creating 93,000 Fake Accounts

If true, this is a highly unethical practice for any business. Last week, Uber's business head for Asia said that they would overtake Ola within a month. Looks like Ola is making things easier for Uber.

Uber has filed a case against its Indian competitor Ola, accusing it of creating fake bookings on the former’s platform and later cancelling them, thereby misleading drivers and causing loss to the U.S-based company.

Uber in its plea alleged that Ola's employees have created over 93,000 fake accounts across India on Uber's platform and were using them to make false bookings which were later cancelled and thus, causing loss to Uber which has to pay the cancellation charges.

It has claimed to have paid over Rs five lakh as cancellation charges and alleged that by making false bookings, Ola was "squatting" on cabs associated with Uber.

Ola denied the allegations made by Uber and told the court it has no intention of indulging in any of the actions attributed to it by its competitor.

Source: Huffington Post

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by D C

Uber Drags Ola To Court, Accuses It Of Creating 93,000 Fake Accounts

If true, this is a highly unethical practice for any business. Last week, Uber's business head for Asia said that they would overtake Ola within a month. Looks like Ola is making things easier for Uber.




Source: Huffington Post

Uber started this dirty tricks and now they are getting the same treatment

Uber's dirty tricks quantified: Rival counts 5,560 canceled rides

[rdhawan15]

Originally Posted by C'estlavie

+ 1.

Both of the things you mention have happened with- drivers cancelling after accepting because they learned I had to travel long distances, and a driver asking me to cancel and rebook when I was in the cab and being taken to the airport.

The exact thing happened with me this Monday when I tried to use Uber for a ride to Hyderabad Airport. The driver accepted the request, moved his sedan to Shilpa Park area and became untraceable. There was no sign of the car. All this happened between 5:25 AM to 5:45 AM and his phone was switched-off. Fortunately, I was able to find an OLA cab to reach the airport on time.

If Uber pays on number of trips basis, then they need to consider changing it over to a mix of trip numbers and total distance traveled.

I had absolutely no problems with Uber for intra-city commute in Hyderabad.

[greenhorn]

I was discussing this with a friend whose brother was driving for uber, and was told that uber has changed its incentive from no of trips completed a day to a set daily revenue target.

Also, even before, for longer trips, every 30KM ( or 15, not sure ) was counted as a separate trip)

[Dry Ice]

A rather bizarre experience with Uber today morning. One I least expected.

My parents have to meet someone at AIIMS and I insist on them taking a Uber. They are allocated a Wagon R, some 100 m away from our place. Dad speaks to the driver and surprisingly the person on the other end says he is in Sector - 8. That is at least a KM or 2 away from where the cab is appearing on the app. I am confused and call him up again. No response.

I advice them to walk down towards the apartment's gate, he must be coming as he is just about 100 m away.

10 mins later, Dad calls, the cab is nowhere to be seen and driver is not picking up - they are getting late now. I take the car out and reach the spot where this cab is supposed to be. I am taken a little aback. The driver is sleeping!! We knock on the window but he doesn't wake up! Have to ram the window quite hard to wake him up from the slumber. When we ask him why is he sleeping after accepting the booking, he is nonchalant and calmly says I will cancel. Why did he waste our time? Isn't it better to sleep after logging off from the app? At this point, he turns abusive! Hurtling all sorts of foul language. :O

I leave the place and call another Uber. They leave. On the way back, Dad was so put off by this, he took the Metro home.

I have highlighted this through Twitter but knowing their attitude, don't expect much. They are trying to 'appease' me by offering stupid credits and refunds.

I just realized the problem. There is not much you can do if your driver becomes abusive. Reminds me of the Bangalore incident sometime back. There is no one you can reach out to when in need. At that moment, you are on your own. You can write to their support or tweet but all that is for later, when the damage is already done.

There was a lot of talk about Uber becoming safer after the ban last year. Even I was starting to believe the same after a few good rides. But not anymore. I will remain skeptical. Everyone should.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Just a quick update on Mega Cabs service to Bangalore airport - Now Rs. 700 flat drop to Bangalore airport from anywhere in Bangalore City.

Yup, good offer and used by me today. Only peeve is that the driver completed the trip while still near Yelahanka and PayTM immediately debited my wallet. I had not noticed due to drowsiness but what if the vehicle had broken down after the money was taken?

Realized the time stamp on the messages and app notification only much later in the terminal.

But good offer nonetheless especially for the long distance commuters.

[Latheesh]

Booked Uber for a short distance travel from Electronic City to Singasandra (4.5 KM). Later found that extra toll was charged (for BETL toll) in trip receipt . Sent a feedback message to Uber and they refunded the amount within few minutes.