[aashishnb]

I'd suggest you to avoid self drive. Might become too hectic & tiresome, esp since its a day journey & you'll be shopping (assume multiple locations). Parking in a lot of places may also be a nightmare.
Use the taxi union. They run the blue cool cabs and generally have finer pricing for full day (8 hours / 80 km). Their numbers 02224905151 / 02224905149 / 02222164466.
Otherwise Google one of the private travel agents / taxi providers.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

I plan to visit Mumbai for a day (arrive by morning flight and depart by a late evening flight) to shop for my house. I need a car for the entire day with driver. What are my options?

One more choice:
After you arrive at Mumbai, come out of the airport on the main road. On your left, you will see a lot of cars standing. Here you can negotiate and get a competitive pricing. I generally do this and in last few years, I have the numbers of two of the decent agents here. They will drop you back to the airport too.

If you need, I can send you the numbers of the guys I know, by PM.

[vaibhav_a_a]

I was in two minds whether to report this or not as when in Hyderabad (mid 2014- late 2015), I used TFS about 10 times in one year, with almost no major problems. I understand that negative posts normally come across as rants, but am posting this so that others know that not all is hunky dory in the new 'tech enabled' hail a ride app world.
____________________

Hi,

During the last one month, I've had to visit Delhi from Jaipur a few times. I've used the apps and call center of each of the three companies as posted above. Some specific learning and subsequent warnings for those relying on the new technology enabled services-

1. Uber applied 'surge' pricing at 5:40 am yesterday for a pick up in Jaipur - the booking was done the previous day. Ten minutes before the pick up, they showed 5 times the price. Had we accepted the price, the cab would cost more than the train ride to Delhi would (AC chair car price). We declined that and were given a 'no cabs available' message. Thankfully, an autowallah lives not too far from here and dropped us at a short notice. He didnt even want to charge extra but we tipped him handsomely.

2. Meru sent a coupon 'JAN26' promising 26 percent discount for using their service in Delhi NCR. We booked using the app as directed. At the end of the trip, driver refused to give any discount, nor was the discount applied automatically in the bill. Rate charged was Rs 23/- per km and so we paid Rs 900/- for the trip. (our estimate was it should cost approx 500/- for the distance without any discount). Driver refused to call the helpline. We attempted twice but automated message didn't direct us to a human operator.

3. Taxi for sure (subsidiary of OLA cabs), in Delhi. Smoothest experience till drop off at railway station. Then, driver insisted that service tax is not added to the bill and conned us of Rs 100/- over and above the amount. The train was about to leave so we gave the money (Rs 540) and left. (automated bill generated later showed us that service tax and charge was added already). The email sent in this regard to the company has not been responded.

Buyers beware.

- V_A

p.s. When we returned to Jaipur, we just paid an auto what he asked. I cannot tell you how happy he was, and we were happy not to deal with a machine which would cheat us later.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

I plan to visit Mumbai for a day (arrive by morning flight and depart by a late evening flight) to shop for my house. I need a car for the entire day with driver. What are my options?

Hi,

I had the phone numbers of two taxi agents at Mumbai airport. Before passing on the numbers to you, I called on those numbers and found that those are no more valid. Sorry for the inconvenience.

In any case, I suggest you not to respond to the taxi drivers or tourist taxis inside the airport. Come out to the main road (highway, you will see the flyover). Just on your left on the highway, you will see many cars / cabs. The agents are booking the cabs to Pune on sharing basis. The same agents will give you a taxi for 8 hours / 80 km package. Negotiate with them, they do negotiate. Before boarding the car, note down the phone number of the agent. Also do note down the odometer reading.

If you book a radio cab in advance, they will pick you up from the airport. This service is more accountable and hassle free. But there are some locations near Mumbai where these cabs do not accept the booking or they take the booking as an outstation booking with very high charges.

In such cases or in case of a no show by a radio taxi (experienced this quite a few times), you can take the cabs as mentioned above.

[gearedup]

This is a comment on OLA in Bangalore. My requirements were mainly from K.R.Market to Sarjapur road after 8 Pm. Was never successful in getting a cab. To my understanding their app is highly intelligent. Instead of showing no cabs nearby, the app kept re-starting or crashing.

I have used OLA from Sarjapur road to go to Hosur etc.. during peak morning hours. Worked perfectly, but with a peak (surge) pricing of 1.2x.
For smaller distances the ask went up to 1.8x

On a separate note, I wanted to try using these cab services for my full day travels within bangalore for office use. Never worked for me, so I continue to use the full day cab provided by the office. It could be costly at about 1,500 to 2,500 per day, but worth the effort saved of booking a cab to the next destination. My office admin himself was skeptical of managing the schedule any other way

[auto-one]

I am a regular traveller to Mumbai and so a regular customer of these taxi services for short trips of around 4- 6 kms. I would like to share my experiences:--
1) TFS was economical and the best for short trips until April 2015, but now I never get TFS cab for short trips.
2) OLA cabs too are usually not available for short trips
3) Meru was better initially but these days they too have become hopelessly unreliable.In the last 3 weeks, they have cancelled my confirmed booking at
the eleventh hour due to some 'technical reason' . Their drivers too refuse or cancel the booking as per their convenience.

[sunishsamuel]

Celebrate this Republic Day with UberVINTAGE, link

Got this through whatsapp, nice idea though.

[manduvindupondu]

Learnings
1) Dont rely on Ola/Uber for Airport/Railway station. Take Public transport (day time). What are the alternatives at night? Asking a friend/family to drop?! Or parking your vehicle at airport /station (costly/unsafe)
2) The honeymoon is over. Waiting for Reliance to launch their taxi services. I feel 4-5 players are needed for customers to have options

Lighter note:
The autowallahs used surge pricing much before than IIT guys, that too without real time data/analytics :-) Auto guys computed traffic density in their mind and denied rides. Standard response - "Baralla- wont come" They helped in avoiding congestion in already crowded areas. Hats off.

[JD1]

Looks like Uber is now available from Bangalore airport and much cheaper. They announced new flat rates from Airport to anywhere in Bangalore (example including Electronic City) - UberGo - Rs 549, UberX-Rs 649 and UberXL Rs 749. That's some savings over the usual 20 bucks per km charge of Meru and other cabs.

https://newsroom.uber.com/india/flatfares/

This must be something new since last month I wasn't able to see a single Uber can at airport and had to stand in queue to get in Airport taxi.

The release does not say anything about city to airport ride so I guess that is still with usual charges.

[manduvindupondu]

Used Uber for first time and my debut was in Bangalore. Applied a first time user promo code and got 250 rs off from total bill. Saw UberGo at 1.3x and thought fine, I'll leave it. Then saw UberX without surge price and ordered it. Got a lovely Swift Desire which was used for Incredible India campaign. Well maintained, good AC, clean car and smooth driving. Gave 5/5 stars. Good starting experience on Uber.

Cons
1) No Phone support. They responded 5 hours after my email, which did not address my query :-)
2) No reliability on pricing. There is no fixed per km and it can vary many times during the day itself. Of course, the good thing is we get a fairly good estimate if we enter destination
3) Ride time has become a standard in the industry. This needs to go away from a customer point of view. In Bangalore, Ecity to Yelhanka takes 2.5 hours, so 150 rs is gone just to be on the road :-)
4) Lesser availability of cabs as compared to Ola/TFS. Hope it improves over time

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by vaibhav_a_a

1. Uber applied 'surge' pricing at 5:40 am yesterday for a pick up in Jaipur - the booking was done the previous day.

How did you book an Uber in advance? I thought Uber didn't allow advance bookings anywhere in the World!

That said, it's always better to stick to a confirmed booking via a neighbourhood operator (if he is reliable). Uber/Ola work out better during regular working hours.

3. Taxi for sure (subsidiary of OLA cabs), in Delhi. Smoothest experience till drop off at railway station. Then, driver insisted that service tax is not added to the bill and conned us of Rs 100/- over and above the amount. The train was about to leave so we gave the money (Rs 540) and left. (automated bill generated later showed us that service tax and charge was added already). The email sent in this regard to the company has not been responded.

Bad apples are everywhere, though I have experienced such 'cons' most often on Ola/TFS. If they don't respond, raise a stink on Social Media.

A ride from Gurgaon - Delhi often comes with an additional charge of 65 bucks (MCD tax for commercial vehicles). Most OLA/TFS drivers insist the charge is to be paid by the customer in cash. Each time I have to tell them it's included in the fare. Never faced it with Uber. Generally it's the same drivers on all the providers but what beats me is why do they behave the way they do specifically when driving an Uber (mean it in a good way!).

Buyers beware.

Of course, that's the Universal truth in our country which applies for everything without exception.

Originally Posted by manduvindupondu

2) No reliability on pricing. There is no fixed per km and it can vary many times during the day itself. Of course, the good thing is we get a fairly good estimate if we enter destination

Uber has standard published rates for all cities. You can check out the rates on the app. Only time the price changes is during 'surge'.

3) Ride time has become a standard in the industry. This needs to go away from a customer point of view. In Bangalore, Ecity to Yelhanka takes 2.5 hours, so 150 rs is gone just to be on the road :-)

Look at it from the cabbie's perspective. If this charge is done away with, I doubt any cabbie would agree to take you to the congested areas anymore as he can very well complete more rides in leaner areas and earn more. Why should he get stuck in traffic and waste his hour or two just sitting there?

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Look at it from the cabbie's perspective. If this charge is done away with, I doubt any cabbie would agree to take you to the congested areas anymore as he can very well complete more rides in leaner areas and earn more. Why should he get stuck in traffic and waste his hour or two just sitting there?

Didn't expect this sort of a comment ! This is just speaking an Autowallah's mind / mentality.

Probably the cabbie should stop driving if he doesn't like jams (which is omnipresent in every large city).
Better, he can sit at a signal and sell peanuts.

[msk_kapoor]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Didn't expect this sort of a comment ! This is just speaking an Autowallah's mind / mentality.

Probably the cabbie should stop driving if he doesn't like jams (which is omnipresent in every large city).
Better, he can sit at a signal and sell peanuts.

Actually i had an interesting conversation with a OLA cab driver in chennai. He mentioned that the drivers wont get the surge charges collected it seems. They are paid only for the kms driven as per normal fare for them. I asked how ola get the money from cab drivers when most of people pay by cash. It seems they are forced to take 2-4 ola money rides every 2 days to compensate for these it seems. So whatever the prices are still cab drivers from ola will think twice to travel to congested areas. But i heard uber pass on this surge fares also to cab drivers to some extent. The ola driver who talked to me said there are nearly 200 cab drivers who are changing from ola to fasttrack.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Didn't expect this sort of a comment ! This is just speaking an Autowallah's mind / mentality.

Probably the cabbie should stop driving if he doesn't like jams (which is omnipresent in every large city).
Better, he can sit at a signal and sell peanuts.

It is a business after all, they will look for ways to maximize profits. At least, the cab companies are being upfront about it. You know the per km, per min charge, surge (if any) before calling one. Unlike the autos where the changing traffic conditions changes the driver's mood and you need to appease him by offering that 15-20 bucks over and above the previously agreed price.

Originally Posted by msk_kapoor

Actually i had an interesting conversation with a OLA cab driver in chennai. He mentioned that the drivers wont get the surge charges collected it seems. They are paid only for the kms driven as per normal fare for them. I asked how ola get the money from cab drivers when most of people pay by cash. It seems they are forced to take 2-4 ola money rides every 2 days to compensate for these it seems. So whatever the prices are still cab drivers from ola will think twice to travel to congested areas. But i heard uber pass on this surge fares also to cab drivers to some extent. The ola driver who talked to me said there are nearly 200 cab drivers who are changing from ola to fasttrack.

That is true. Uber passes on the entire surge charge to the driver partner, Ola does not. Ola may change it's policy in the future depending on how much funding they get in the next round.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Didn't expect this sort of a comment ! This is just speaking an Autowallah's mind / mentality.

Probably the cabbie should stop driving if he doesn't like jams (which is omnipresent in every large city).
Better, he can sit at a signal and sell peanuts.

You work in IT, and you are usually billed by the hour to a client (lets forget about FP and other models for the time being)
If the project gets delayed, and the client says that they will pay only for the hours you were actually working , and not pay you for for the time you were sitting idle due to delays from their end, would you/your employer agree ?