[ksameer1234]

Had another horrible experience last night with Ola with the rudest cab driver who didn't want to take the ride and wasn't afraid of running over me when confronted.

I was out for dinner with wife last night. Booked a cab and driver called to ask where I wanted to go. I told him to come to pick up point and I will tell him the location then. The driver disconnects the call and doesn't pick call thereafter. The cab moves closer to the pick up point and stops there. I decide to walk up to him. Spotted the cab waiting at the far end of the street and moved closer to him. I had thought I'll walk to the cab, talk to driver, convince him and start the ride. What happened however was totally unexpected and scary. As I walked up to the cab, he sensed I was the customer he had refused. Seeing me close in, he started moving and I had move away to avoid getting rammed into. I knocked on window to ask him to stop but he drove off.

Even more ridiculous was that driver won't cancel the ride and me trying to cancel would attract cancellation charges. I finally took Uber back. Checked the app today morning and ride still shows scheduled with cab reaching me in 20 mins. If it were for Ola, I would have been stranded all night waiting for that elusive cab.



I have had fair share of rude Ola drivers and there has to be a reason why only Ola drivers are so rude and not Uber. If this is the state of matter, Ola should count their days. There is no way they can survive when drivers don't give a damn about customers.

[Karooo]

Originally Posted by ksameer1234

Had another horrible experience last night with Ola with the rudest cab driver who didn't want to take the ride and wasn't afraid of running over me when confronted.
==========
Even more ridiculous was that driver won't cancel the ride and me trying to cancel would attract cancellation charges. ......

You shouldn't worry about cancellation fees. Uber will refund you that everytime. All you have to do is go to the help section of the app and mention the reason for cancellation.

[jayantvs]

Originally Posted by ksameer1234

..... I had thought I'll walk to the cab, talk to driver, convince him and start the ride......I knocked on window to ask him to stop but he drove off.

I think you shouldn't have tried to pursue the driver. If he doesn't want to come let it go, cancel the cab and opt for the next one. You can always give a feedback to the service provider.

Even more ridiculous was that driver won't cancel the ride and me trying to cancel would attract cancellation charges....

The only reason they won't cancel is because for cancelling the ride they will incur about 10 times the cancellation charge (as told by one of the driver) what you have to pay. So it is ok to cancel the ride and let Ola/Uber know the driver refusal as the reason. I have cancelled multiple rides with Uber in such cases and have got my money back.

I have had fair share of rude Ola drivers and there has to be a reason why only Ola drivers are so rude and not Uber. If this is the state of matter, Ola should count their days. There is no way they can survive when drivers don't give a damn about customers.

Uber is no different is what I have observed. The Uber drivers are equally rude and cancel the ride without even notifying

[deathwalkr]

Why do ola cab drivers cancel rides if i decide to pay via cc/ola money? That's the first thing they ask when they call up. Cash or ola money? If cash they come otherwise they cancel.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Why do ola cab drivers cancel rides if i decide to pay via cc/ola money? That's the first thing they ask when they call up. Cash or ola money? If cash they come otherwise they cancel.

The obvious reason. Ola is very slow to settle with their drivers. And according to the drivers they find every possible excuse to reduce the amount payable by imposing fines based on user complaints, deadlines the driver doesn't meet etc.

And if several people during a day use Ola Money or Card, what happens is that the driver is left without cash to buy a meal or diesel. In one such case (Uber) I lent the poor guy Rs.500 which, to the credit of humanity, he returned to me the next day. 11 PM at night after he'd dropped me home from the airport.

[Nissan1180]

I tried to get into this business but failed miserably because the driver ran away with our car. I've documented that incident on another thread.
Anyway, I fail to realize why the companies are running this business unsustainably. For our CNG XCent, the cost per kilometer is around Rs. 2.5 in the city in peak hour traffic with AC running for 12 hours. Yes, CNG is much better than Diesel (I fail to understand why few companies offer CNG options for passenger cars today- there's no shame in driving a vehicle that pollutes less and is more cost efficient). The same car is now being driven by dad after converting it to a normal registration from a Taxi registration.

Given this fact, and the fact that a car usually lasts for around 250,000 kilometers on Indian roads, the cost per kilometer could turn out to be Rs. 2.5 + Rs. 2 (depreciation cost of car over 3-4 years till it reaches 250,000 kilometers) and Rs. 6-8 (driver+owner profit of around Rs. 10-15k per month) which turns out to be less than Rs. 13 per kilometer. An autorickshaw in Ahmedabad costs Rs. 10 per kilometer. Yes, you'll be able to earn a small amount from one car, but most fleet owners have at least a couple of cars. And most of them run for more than 300,000 kilometers without an engine overhaul.

I really think that there's something wrong in the way these companies are pricing their products. For Ola, it seems to me that they're not lean enough to survive and thrive on small margins and for Uber, there're very few interested cabs. That's what is happening in Kolkata. Uber has few cabs but Ola has too many, but Ola fares are almost always 30% higher than Uber fares. It seems to me that Ola has stopped subsidizing its operations and is charging a higher fare simply to make sure that no ride runs without earning a bit of revenue for the company. That's a good step.

I have had horrible experiences with Uber in Bangalore. The driver refused to pick me up from an office even though he was about 300 meters from the area. I knew that Uber would refund me the cancellation charge, so I booked another cab through Ola, but I suspect that the loss to the company in this case was mitigated through the massive VC investment, and not any operational optimization. This makes me suspect that in the long run, like in China, Ola will reign in the Indian market.

[Abhi_abarth]

One of the horrible experiences with OLA today. Booked a cab for my wife from Dilsukhnagar to Old Alwal (my home). Get a cab after playing fastest finger first for 30 minutes, shared the contact details with my wife. She calls him for the directions and the first thing he asks for his the drop point. Straight away refuses to come the moment my wife tells the destination. I call him to enquire for the reason, starts abusing and says do whatever you want to I won't come.

Again, after another round of faster finger first, got another cab assigned which was 10 minutes away, gentlemen had '4.9' rating (wow !) calls me within 2 minutes but the call got disconnected as i had some bad signal quality. My wife calls me and says this driver is singing the same song, i told her let's wait and not cancel. He arrives at the point after 10 minutes, my wife and 2 year old daughter gets into the cab, the moment he gets to see the destination asks them to get down. Reason ? he got the trip assigned even after logging off. Ola has become so cheap, so cheap it's waste to even have a discussion with these fellows.

I have tweeted Bhavish Aggarwal about the incident. Let me see if he shows some response.

Edit : Got a Direct message from OLA support asking for the booking numbers. Not expecting anything drastic, should be a standard protocol.

[cpbopanna]

Ola's ride-share pass is a sham. They collect money upfront promising limited number of Ola share rides at a capped fare, but 99% of the time, share cabs are not available! I prefer Uber which does not promise such mouth-watering schemes, and their pool vehicles (though priced at a premium compared to Ola share) are available most of the time!

[sanchari]

Originally Posted by Abhi_abarth

One of the horrible experiences with OLA today. Booked a cab for my wife from Dilsukhnagar to Old Alwal (my home). Get a cab after playing fastest finger first for 30 minutes, shared the contact details with my wife. She calls him for the directions and the first thing he asks for his the drop point. Straight away refuses to come the moment my wife tells the destination. I call him to enquire for the reason, starts abusing and says do whateve

Same thing happened with Uber for us in Hyderabad last year. We had been to a doctor to show our sick child, and the driver first accepted the booking. He didn't come even after 10 minutes, and when I called him, he asked for directions. I had the security guard tell him in Telugu and then this guy asked him to give me the phone, and said he is not coming! I then cancelled the ride on Uber and was still charged for it as I didn't cancel it within the required time, though I had mentioned cause as driver refusing to come. I then sent mail to Uber and they finally refunded it as Uber cash that I could use on future rides.

[ksameer1234]

Uber and Ola are now no better than the auto-rickshaw we have been dealing with all these years. Almost always will the driver ask for drop location before coming and basis drop location will decide whether he wants to come or not.

While on one hand customer service is spiraling down, the fares are touching new highs. Uber had an offer running last month where HDFC credit cards had 20% discount on weekends. I observed on more than one occasion that fares for same time of day for same route were about 20% higher on weekends than weekdays, effectively nullifying the discount.

I suppose we will witness this churn for next couple of years and then arrive at new normal where cabs will be significantly expensive than autos and people would opt for other modes of transport instead of solely relying on Ola/Uber.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by ksameer1234

I suppose we will witness this churn for next couple of years and then arrive at new normal where cabs will be significantly expensive than autos and people would opt for other modes of transport instead of solely relying on Ola/Uber.

the saying is: The more things change, the more they stay the same!

[TusharK]

Cab aggregator Ola has raised US $1.1 billion (Rs. 7,157 crore) in the latest round of funding. Parent company ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd. has confirmed that it is in advanced talks with other investors to raise an additional US $1 billion (Rs. 6,507 crore).

The investment firm Tencent Holdings Limited headed the latest round of funding. Softbank - Ola's existing investor along with other US-based investment companies also took part in this round. According to the company, the boost in capital will allow it to invest into supply, innovations and technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Source: Medianama

Link to Team-BHP News

[lamborghini]

Originally Posted by ksameer1234

I suppose we will witness this churn for next couple of years and then arrive at new normal where cabs will be significantly expensive than autos and people would opt for other modes of transport instead of solely relying on Ola/Uber.

The biggest threats to these Taxis/Autos is going to be improving public infra at a lower cost.
In Mumbai for example, people wouldn't mind using the Metro/Mono once it is properly connected - as long as it is efficient, clean, and safe. If they can reach their destination as quickly without putting in significantly more effort and at a lower cost - the transition will take place.

Also, today Uber/Ola can afford to undercut competitors thanks to funding they are receiving. As this dries up, and investors start seeking an exit (which will hold maximum value the day these aggregators make profits) - the true fares will come to play - and yes, it will be a lot more expensive than an auto.

[sreeharipv]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

The biggest threats to these Taxis/Autos is going to be improving public infra at a lower cost.
In Mumbai for example, people wouldn't mind using the Metro/Mono once it is properly connected - as long as it is efficient, clean, and safe. If they can reach their destination as quickly without putting in significantly more effort and at a lower cost - the transition will take place.

Also, today Uber/Ola can afford to undercut competitors thanks to funding they are receiving. As this dries up, and investors start seeking an exit (which will hold maximum value the day these aggregators make profits) - the true fares will come to play - and yes, it will be a lot more expensive than an auto.

There are a couple of things in the future that will play out in favor of the 'shared' cab services which will make it cheaper and more convenient than the alternatives.

1. EV revolution that is about to happen. Well built EVs have lesser maintenance cost and can run many more miles than a comparable fossil fuel cars in its life time. Tesla has already proved that batteries can hold up very well on high mileage applications.

https://jalopnik.com/this-is-what-ha...-te-1798662230

This helps in minimizing, cost of the car, cost of fuel, cost of maintenance and cost of down time. A big win.

2. AI based ride sharing. Ola and Uber is collecting a lot of data and is optimizing ride sharing by day. As more and more people start using it and the algorithms become more efficient, you'll have a ride available sooner and with much less detour than whats expected right now.

3. Autonomy. I almost didn't want to mention this because this is like a decade away as far as India is concerned. Nevertheless, its a potential cost saver in the future and the bigger transport companies of 10 years from now are going to reap big profits when autonomy hits because all of a sudden they don't have to pay driver any more and the cars can be in service 24 x 7.

4. People will get used to consuming media on the go and wouldn't want to go back. A lot of people joining the workforce now are solely relying on the cab services and they may never consider owning a vehicle because they are not used to it. 10 years from now the commuting scene will be very different.

[Thermodynamics]

Originally Posted by Nissan1180

Uber has few cabs but Ola has too many, but Ola fares are almost always 30% higher than Uber fares. It seems to me that Ola has stopped subsidizing its operations and is charging a higher fare simply to make sure that no ride runs without earning a bit of revenue for the company. That's a good step.
et.

As an investor it is a good step but for a customer it depends. For example, surge pricing is blatant looting. My recent ride using Ola was a disaster. It was Ola micro, an old indica that appeared straight out of a wreckyard with torn seats and dirt all over inside and outside.

Fare Details
Base Fare ₹50
Distance Fare for 9.8 km ₹78.4
Ride Time Fare for 28 min ₹28
Fare Increase¹ ₹234.6
Ride Fare ₹391
Taxes ₹29.72
Total Fare (rounded off) ₹421

That would be ₹43/km