[rsidd]

Originally Posted by kiku007

Once, I book an Uber cab for a round trip from Home - Kid's school - Home. The Uber driver clicks something on his phone and the trip is completed at the school.

This is actually an interesting point. If he had not done that, would Uber have calculated the trip distance as zero, or is it smart enough to calculate the actual distance he travelled? I'm guessing the latter since it calculates as per the actual route he takes. But maybe the driver himself had doubts and didn't want to take a chance!

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by rsidd

This is actually an interesting point. If he had not done that, would Uber have calculated the trip distance as zero, or is it smart enough to calculate the actual distance he travelled? I'm guessing the latter since it calculates as per the actual route he takes. But maybe the driver himself had doubts and didn't want to take a chance!

Billing is based on the actual Kms traveled as calculated by the app.

[deepcdc]

Originally Posted by hyd_traveller

That was a 2 day promotion (at least in Hyderabad, no idea about other cities) wherein they offered the slider facility and divided the vehicles into categories called black (altis and innova) and luxury (merc, bmw, mini cooper, volvo, etc.).

The slider was active only for 2 hours on each of those 2 days between 12 noon and 2 pm and all luxury vehicles booked were free to the customer as long as the ride did not last more than 45 minutes (45 minutes is good enough to literally cross the city).

Thanks for the info. I wonder why they stopped it, made sense to me. They could target the "uber" and the regular segment. Gaining general popularity.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by GTO

Reminds me of this one time that the Uber App displayed an ETA of 10 minutes; too early as I'd yet to get dressed. After my shower, the App tells me the nearest car is 42 minutes away!

Added this additional point to the opening post.

Originally Posted by kiku007

I really wonder what's stopping Uber from launching 'Fixed Time' cabs or at least being able to book a car 2 hours in advance.

Once, I book an Uber cab for a round trip from Home - Kid's school - Home. The Uber driver clicks something on his phone and the trip is completed at the school. What happened next is the most ridiculous thing in my opinion. Driver calls me, asks me to book another trip from school to home and only then he can start the trip.

The guy took you for a ride. He cannot end the trip without your permission. I've frequently done round trips with Uber and it was all accounted for as one single trip.

Talking of cabs how can we forget the non-rash driving? Every time I'm pleased to see the Uber driver not lugging the engine.

True.

Originally Posted by V-16

and also dont want to let their cars be handled by the drivers offered.

Well said! I'd rather take an Uber than have an unknown 'Party Hard Driver' (link) pilot my car. I used to be a regular customer of PHD. Not anymore.

[kiku007]

@ GTO - That's bad. Anyways I was busy at that point in time and just left it.

[thewhiteknight]

Here is an interesting article from the NY Times about Uber and its effects on existing markets. Interesting to note that its valued at $17b. That's a huge number for the service it provides.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/14/up...pgtype=article

[sdp1975]

Another article on the Uber financial model : http://www.forbes.com/sites/aswathda...e-uber-payoff/

Taxi operators in India like Meru charge a flat rate of 1000/- per day from the drivers as opposed to Uber's 20% commission , http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ess-model.html

It remains to be seen Uber's impact on the India taxi business segment.

In terms of valuation, Uber is certainly over-valued at $17b for the amount of revenue it generates.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by sdp1975

Taxi operators in India like Meru charge a flat rate of 1000/- per day from the drivers as opposed to Uber's 20% commission , http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ess-model.html

A major difference in the two business models is that Meru owns the car; Uber is basically a technology provider and doesn't own the cabs.

[Rehaan]

Great review GTO! A nice collection of positives and negatives.

I think Uber's shortcomings can be grouped into two simple categories: Technology & Training.

The technology hasn't been adapted for Indian conditions (eg. ETA calculations adjusting for traffic, etc) and the drivers haven't been trained well enough (eg. how to read the google map, etc).


Adding a few more unique experiences (from a friend):

1) Pickup booked. The driver had a 3/5 rating. The car was about 5 km away. Everything went smoothly. After the ride, the email receipt arrived. The driver has started the meter at the time of booking instead of pick-up. (Contacted Uber, they refunded).

2) ETA showed 20 minutes. Booked the cab. No movement. Called the driver to confirm - he said he was busy doing something else, and to wait 40 minutes. Note that canceling after 5 minutes results in a Rs. 200 charge. Had to force him to cancel.

3) This happened twice: ETA says 15 minutes, watching the map - the driver takes a completely wrong route to approach the pick-up location, resulting in a 20 minute delay.

4) Paid for toll. Driver happily used the passenger's money. Realised later that the toll charge was added to the taxi fare. (Contacted Uber, they refunded).

Originally Posted by yashcosmos

I got a promotion mailer from Uber informing me about the Uber-Chopper! The deal that they are offering is simply amazing in my opinion.

Pretty much a publicity stunt. From what i heard, the selected people were all "social media influencers".

Originally Posted by GTO

What you won't like:

In other countries, one of the biggest negatives of Uber is Surge Pricing. I don't think this applies in India as yet (though the monsoons did make me think of it!).

Originally Posted by kiku007

@ GTO - That's bad. Anyways I was busy at that point in time and just left it.

Write to Uber. If there was some additional charge, they will credit it back to your account.

cya
R

[akshay81]

I used Uber service for traveling from Prabhadevi to Colaba. Total fare was Rs.454/-. After considering the 1st time usage discount of Rs.300/- I was supposed to be charged Rs.154/-. Since I didn't receive any message from credit card company, I paid the driver Rs.154/- and after I got off the cab, I got a message from credit card company that I was charged Rs.154/- by Uber!!! I immediately contacted Uber.

Its been a week that I contacted Uber and they have till date not bothered to reply to me or refund me my money. This may be one off incident for them but I would prefer a Meru cab to Uber for less hassles regarding payment and the drivers of Meru being more courteous.

[virtualdanger]

Excellent review GTO. I'd heard of Uber, and the Smartphone App, but though I was curious, being someone who rarely uses cabs, I have not had the chance to try it out.

Thanks for the detailed review with screenshots; pretty much gave me all the info and details I'd wanted. For late night travel it sounds like a solid option. Needless to say, the possibility of impressive cars should make for a sweet experience.

[Perakath]

Originally Posted by GTO

A major difference in the two business models is that Meru owns the car; Uber is basically a technology provider and doesn't own the cabs.

A Meru driver told me that the purchase cost of the car was divided (unequally) between the driver and Meru. Guess this ensures that the driver has a stake in the vehicle. Although it apparently didn't find its way into the final contract, the driver was orally told that he would have an option to transfer the car to his name (buying Meru out) after a certain timeframe (a year or so).

This is in Chennai though, where the Meru brand is operated through a master franchisee called V-Link Automotive Services Pvt Ltd (they operate Jaipur and Ahmedabad as well).

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by Perakath

A Meru driver told me that the purchase cost of the car was divided (unequally) between the driver and Meru. Guess this ensures that the driver has a stake in the vehicle. Although it apparently didn't find its way into the final contract, the driver was orally told that he would have an option to transfer the car to his name (buying Meru out) after a certain timeframe (a year or so).

This is in Chennai though, where the Meru brand is operated through a master franchisee called V-Link Automotive Services Pvt Ltd (they operate Jaipur and Ahmedabad as well).

In Meru's case, you need to take the cab on their terms on a 3 year term and pay Rs 1000 per day plus a deposit of sorts. If you do the math, Meru would have got a fleet discount of 30% at least and paid around 5 lakhs, so within 18 months, Meru would have made their pile.

The driver is under pressure to make their margin, not time off allowed, nothing. I believe a lot of drivers have dumped the cars once they have recovered their deposit money as the consideration of the cars after 3 years are not worth considering.

In the case of Uber, you, the driver or taxi company take the car as per your preferred terms. You get screened by Uber and then work when you want to. It promotes a lot of flexibility, work life balance etc. The motivation to work in difficult times (night, rain etc.) is rewarded by the surge pricing.

In India, setting up a car hie company is difficult, Zoom nearly fell through until they tied up ith Ramesh Travels. Self owned high end cars are still a rarirty. There are plenty of self owned Indica's etc but judging by the likes of the experiences with Ola, Uber would rather to be distracted by the indiscipline of that segment

[Perakath]

^^ Agreed.

Also, I would rather have the convenience of not having to specify a drop location while booking an Uber than the convenience of being able to book an Uber for a specific time in advance.

(I'm guessing that's the reason why you can't book an Uber in advance-- nobody knows where the cars are going to be at any given time.)

[joshguy]

We'll I have been wanting to use uber services for a long time and last week I got a mail from them stating that I get two free trips worth 500,so yesterday night I called them .vehicle was an innova and it had run 2.35lakh Kms .though vehicle was good I didn't get that premium feel due to the 2006 model innova or the first gen innova.

Travelled from greams road to adyar at night ten and actual bill was around 260 and I was chargers zero

Bad point was that driver was driving very slow ,may be a strategy to get more by making the travel time more.(2rs per minute)

Will try another time and if vehicles are going to be same kinds will probably quit uber.not worth the premium only a option in case other cabs don't turn up.