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Old 10th December 2014, 13:02   #436
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re: Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service

Quote:
Originally Posted by zenren View Post
Issue here is that the entire payment is collected by the Uber via their payment gateway and not by the taxi driver who has the permit to provide the service. On what grounds can Uber collect the payment for a service provided by someone else who is not directly connected to them, since they now claim that they are just a technology company and not the service provider?
You're right. These could be issues as well. They'll have to navigate through a host of issues including authorised payment gateways which have their own regulations, in what capacity the payments are being routed, what is the service they are charging for and correspondingly paying the cabbie for etc. And how it can be best put together to defend their stance if at all it is defendable.

On a completely unrelated note and speaking as a customer, somewhat ironically, my experience in Mumbai on condition of car, driver attitude and behaviour is consistently far superior with Uber than with many other licensed radio cabs like Meru. So much for the host of requirements to ensure drivers are well behaved etc.
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Old 10th December 2014, 13:03   #437
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re: Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service

Uber has very poor background check policies for their drivers. Anyone with a car can register and become a Uber driver. They were recently sued in the US for the lack of background information of the drivers. I have also heard from other taxi drivers in US that they don't have right insurance to run a fleet, because its all personal cars(not sure how far its true though)

But that being said, is a Ban the right solution? Shouldn't the authorities in India or any country have laws for such operations and who fail to comply should not be allowed to operate!
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Old 10th December 2014, 13:04   #438
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Re: The Indian Taxi Revolution - Uber, Ola, TaxiforSure, Meru etc.

Yesterday, Bangalore Police Commissioner & Transport Commissioner directed all the cab operators and transport aggregators to strictly follow the 25 permit conditions laid down by the Government.

Link: Permit conditions for city taxis

Some of the permit conditions:

* It is compulsory that the driver displays prominently his name, address, photograph, driving licence details and permit details inside the vehicle in a place where it is clearly visible to passengers. The motor cab (city taxi) should be painted in yellow colour compulsorily.

* The driver of a city taxi should be a resident of Karnataka for a period of at least 10 years, have a minimum qualification of SSLC, have a driving licence and badge authorising him to drive a motor cab with a minimum of two years experience, conversant in Kannada and English, conversant with Karnatak Motor Vehicle Rules 1989.

* If any misbehaviour is reported, the driver’s permit will be suspended and a penalty of Rs. 1,000 will be slapped for the first offence. The penalty will increase to Rs. 2,000 along with suspension of permit for the second offence. The permit will be cancelled for the third offence.

* The operator cannot shift the principal place of business without the permission of the jurisdictional regional transport authority.

* Each motor cab, whose services should be available round the clock, should have a communication system linked to the control room which is authorised by the Regional Transport Authority.

* The motor cab that should operate within a radius of 25 kms from the city limits should be fitted with approved electronic digital meters. The seating capacity should not exceed four passengers plus one passenger.

* Permit will not be issued if the vehicle is more than six years old or has coloured, tinted glass or colour filament.

* Metering should start only after the customer is picked up. No service, dead-mileage charge or any other charge other than the rate fixed by the RTA should be charged.
(RTA fixes the maximum. Cabs can charge anything below).

* The driver should compulsorily wear a uniform – navy blue trousers, sky blue shirt, navy blue cap with yellow stripes (golden yellow), black belt, black shoes and blue socks.

* The vehicle should have a luggage carrier and should approach the customer without any delay.


Last edited by msdivy : 10th December 2014 at 13:24.
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Old 10th December 2014, 13:10   #439
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re: Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service

Whatever the company may be, Uber or Ola or anyone. It is simple common sense that you should register your company to do business in a city and follow local rules and regulations and maintain proper records for following them for inspection by any Govt. Authority as and when required. This does not require any great technology to understand. These companies did not bother to do. Therefore they are all Law Violating companies and it sad that these violators have supporters in TBHP forum just because they found their services were good to them. What a selfish approach!

No wonder, likes of Chennai Burma Bazars and Delhi Gaffar markets do roaring business in India.
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Old 10th December 2014, 13:19   #440
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re: Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service

Quote:
Originally Posted by msdivy View Post
Singapore is a highly regulated and controlled market. When faced with services like Uber, Singapore Govt developed their own taxi hailing app !
What I meant to say was, put regulations in place if the they want control over these services. Not to create their own app and not to BAN them.They can create regulations suitable for our market. Link to SG

I would like the govt to have a two pronged strategy. First, Make sensible regulations and keep tab on these services so that they are inline with the regulations. Two, death penalty to the culprits without second thoughts about age,economic conditions or social status/power (in cases like these).

Based on the way govt has handled rape cases(delhi, bangalore etc), I dont see any deterrent to other potential rapists/repeat offenders. Maximum punishment seems jail for few months,take bail and come out.



@Everyone:I have this question. Please help me understand. If Uber claims they are just connecting service provider and service consumer and they cannot be held liable for this kind of sad situation, I think even JustDial falls into that category. Only difference is JustDial doesnt collect money. Do we have laws to regulate them already?


EDIT: I read that Uber was banned because they do not follow the legal way of operating business in India and it has got nothing to do with the particular situation. So the ban was proper.

Last edited by akhil_007 : 10th December 2014 at 13:34. Reason: Added link
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Old 10th December 2014, 13:20   #441
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Re: Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service *EDIT: Banned in Delhi, Telangana, Thailand & Spain*

Quote:
Originally Posted by srameshdelhi View Post
Whatever the company may be, Uber or Ola or anyone. It is simple common sense that you should register your company to do business in a city and follow local rules and regulations and maintain proper records for following them for inspection by any Govt. Authority as and when required. This does not require any great technology to understand. These companies did not bother to do. Therefore they are all Law Violating companies and it sad that these violators have supporters in TBHP forum just because they found their services were good to them. What a selfish approach!

No wonder, likes of Chennai Burma Bazars and Delhi Gaffar markets do roaring business in India.
This mindset is well captured in the editorial of Hindustan Times today.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/commen...1-1295042.aspx
Excerpts
Quote:
It has also been 24 hours since the social media went full tilt on condemning the move -Twitterati called the move spineless, knee-jerk and ill-thought out. Criticism of the move almost surpassed that of the original crime with even mainstream newspapers devoting column space on whether the ban is justified.
Among all this middle-class outrage, it was conveniently forgotten that everyone's favourite cab company had flouted the rules of the land-howsoever outdated they might have been. The justification offered was banning Uber won't get rid of rapes that occurred in buses, ordinary cabs and trains across the country.
Quote:
Let's look at the facts. Did Uber flout the laws of the land? Yes. Is its business model specifically designed to work in the crevices of legal regulation in most countries? Yes. Has it faced similar problems in other countries, including the US and Europe? Yes. Is this claim of not being a transport company and hence not bound by transport regulations ludicrous? Yes.
That India's motor vehicles' regulations are antiquated and need overhaul is beyond doubt. That, however, cannot be spun as an invitation for a company to creatively dodge the rules. If yellow cabs are governed by a set of laws, the same should be applied to the rich man's cab
Quote:
Uber has run into trouble abroad for predatory trade practices - including surge pricing, under which the company doubles or triples fares in peak hours, bad traffic, or weather calamities. How? By squeezing out competition like all great corporate entities. In a number of other European and American cities, including London and San Francisco, it is currently facing legal action. It has been banned in several others - like Thailand and Spain.
Quote:
What, however, is a cause of worry is our new-found concern for all-encompassing solutions for rape. We really don't care if people are getting molested in cabs or buses or trains. If we did, we would worry about public transport all the time, not just when our favourite service is banned. What we are worried about is not having a comfortable taxi to go to the next party to.
The latest we hear on the rape case is that the accused had 8 criminal FIRs registered against him..!!

Last edited by poloman : 10th December 2014 at 13:25.
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Old 10th December 2014, 13:23   #442
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re: Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service

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Originally Posted by poloman View Post
OK I thought people could read and understand themselves. On the airport convenience charges. This is what is charged by Meru.
Airport convenience charge Rs.60/- for Domestic Terminal & Rs.80/- for International terminal is applicable for the pick-up from respective Airport Terminal.
Toll and parking charges will be extra as applicable.
Effective from 1st October 2014, as per the Finance Bill passed by the Government of India in July 2014, Service tax of 4.94% will be levied on all Taxi Fares and Service Tax of 12.36% will continue to be applicable on Convenience Charges / Airport Parking Charges..

Is Uber charging this? They park outside the airport. You can go and check yourselves if in doubt.
I have no doubt at all. If they are not parking in the airport, why would they pay airport charges? And if they are not charging the consumer airport parking charges, why are you complaining? There is no violation of law here- they are picking up a waiting customer and zooming off.

Agreed that there are grey areas in the law that do not account for web-based services like Uber- or for that matter someone like Tastykhana, which allows a consumer to order food to be delivered to his home where the restaurant themselves do not. Our laws need to stay current and address such new business models rather than react in the only way they know- with hostility and suspicion. Banning Uber is a simple solution but it is depriving a lot of people of an essential service.
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Old 10th December 2014, 13:24   #443
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re: Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service

It is totally shameful how these Cab companies do background checks on drivers.
The UBER driver was a repeat offender, managed to get the character certificate from police and moreover UBER accepted it without doing another round of background check themselves.
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Old 10th December 2014, 13:33   #444
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re: Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service

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Originally Posted by noopster View Post
I have no doubt at all. If they are not parking in the airport, why would they pay airport charges? And if they are not charging the consumer airport parking charges, why are you complaining? There is no violation of law here- they are picking up a waiting customer and zooming off.

Agreed that there are grey areas in the law that do not account for web-based services like Uber- or for that matter someone like Tastykhana, which allows a consumer to order food to be delivered to his home where the restaurant themselves do not. Our laws need to stay current and address such new business models rather than react in the only way they know- with hostility and suspicion. Banning Uber is a simple solution but it is depriving a lot of people of an essential service.
I am not at all complaining. What I am saying is this is not a level playing field. By parking outside Airport, Uber can deduct 100Rs from the bill which is beneficial for the customer. But what will happen if tomorrow all cabs decide they will park outside the airport premises and will come to airport only if you book a ride. So what will people who are not tech savy going to do? Cabs like Meru form a taxi queue at the airport, which is beneficial for such customers who form the large majority. The airport convenience charge is a common practice all over the world. If you hire a rental car from airport, it will be costlier by many notches due to this charge.

Last edited by poloman : 10th December 2014 at 13:36.
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Old 10th December 2014, 13:33   #445
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zenren View Post
Issue here is that the entire payment is collected by the Uber via their payment gateway and not by the taxi driver who has the permit to provide the service. On what grounds can Uber collect the payment for a service provided by someone else who is not directly connected to them, since they now claim that they are just a technology company and not the service provider?

If the customer made the payment to the taxi driver and he in-turn paid Uber whatever fees they charge, it could be argued that Uber is just a service that the taxi driver is using and has got nothing to do with actual service offered by the taxi driver to the customer. In the current model, customer pays Uber and Uber gives the amount to the cab driver after deducting their charges.
If payment gateways are illegal, then every transaction you've done online is illegal. Even services such as Flipkart and snapdeal use payment gateways.

What Uber does, to the best of my knowledge, is connect an already licensed driver to a customer and charge them on behalf of the driver.

Look at the screenshot attached and see the bill. It says issued in behalf of xxx travels.
Attached Thumbnails
Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service-1418198606099.jpg  

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Old 10th December 2014, 13:44   #446
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Originally Posted by djpeesh View Post
If payment gateways are illegal, then every transaction you've done online is illegal. Even services such as Flipkart and snapdeal use payment gateways.

What Uber does, to the best of my knowledge, is connect an already licensed driver to a customer and charge them on behalf of the driver.

Look at the screenshot attached and see the bill. It says issued in behalf of xxx travels.
So, from when issuing a bill on behalf of someone else became legal? What is the registration no. of that xxx travels? How do you know the XXX travels has agreed to become accountable for the services promised and delivered to you. Where is the address of the service provider? Did the service tax collected and paid to govt?

Are these not mandatory requirements? And don't you agree that the govt is not right in asking these questions?

If you are a genuine and decent co. you would first approach the local govt. check the rules, convince them the changes required and take necessary approval and then start operations. What these co. are doing is play around the loopholes of law and reep profits!

Why did Uber not challenge the ban? Because they know that they are caught red-handed!

And, flipkart does not issue invoice on behalf of W S Retail or someone else. You get the item with the bill raised by proper registered co. who has a TIN no. And for having collected the money on behalf of the seller, they stand guaranteed for the quality, service and everything and refund the money also even if seller refuses in case of any disputes. Whereas, Uber wants to run away from that responsibility. That is the difference, in addition to not following the rules and regulation.

Last edited by bblost : 10th December 2014 at 14:43. Reason: back to back. Please use Edit instead.
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Old 10th December 2014, 13:59   #447
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Re: The Indian Taxi Revolution - Uber, Ola, TaxiforSure, Meru etc.

After being subject to litigation in Portland, UBER is not banned in Thailand and Spain. ET reports that it may be out of operation in other places as many city councils and governments are now subjecting it to critical review. Also heard that a UBER driver is being investigated for rape charges in California, USA.
But i am amused with the way our authorities have implemented the ban by just passing an official order.
Better thing would have been to call a meeting of UBER, Google/Apple(OS and app) and all Telco/Data companies and ask them to figure out a way to stop communication with the app in the boundary of Delhi. After all, UBER needs the location to search for taxi. If no one can use UBER in delhi, then you have effectively banned it.
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Old 10th December 2014, 14:04   #448
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re: Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service

Uber taxis are freely available in New Delhi after the "ban". What was banned , the android app, LOL ?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/45442989.cms
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Old 10th December 2014, 14:10   #449
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re: Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service

Quote:
Originally Posted by srameshdelhi View Post
So, from when issuing a bill on behalf of someone else became legal? What is the registration no. of that xxx travels? How do you know the XXX travels has agreed to become accountable for the services promised and delivered to you. Where is the address of the service provider? Did the service tax collected and paid to govt?

Are these not mandatory requirements? And don't you agree that the govt is not right in asking these questions?

If you are a genuine and decent co. you would first approach the local govt. check the rules, convince them the changes required and take necessary approval and then start operations. What these co. are doing is play around the loopholes of law and reep profits!

Why did Uber not challenge the ban? Because they know that they are caught red-handed!
While I don't know what Uber has or will challenge, there seems to be a line at the bottom of the bill saying,
Quote:
Fares are inclusive of service tax and all other taxes applicable. Service tax and all applicable taxes are the responsibility of the transportation service provider.
As a mere user of Uber (and a frequent one I confess), I agree that Uber operates on the fringes of the law. In India, they seem to have a stronger case since they use already registered tourist cabs as their service providers.

In the US and other countries, anyone can drive an Uber. In India, its only a tourist cab and a tourist cab licensee.

Now, I'm not sticking my neck out for Uber, nor do I work or have anything to do with them, apart from using their services. But I do admit to admiring their canny ability to spot an opportunity and milk it.

We've got a big problem on our hands, even if we take MeruPrime or Ola into consideration.

That government norms can be bypassed through a legal loophole is something a lot of companies employ people to do. Merely from a point of the law, Uber seems to have a strong case.
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Old 10th December 2014, 14:32   #450
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re: Review: Uber Premium Taxi Service

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Originally Posted by sdp1975 View Post
Uber taxis are freely available in New Delhi after the "ban". What was banned , the android app, LOL ?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/45442989.cms
Using a banned service is also a legal offense. Now the passengers in Uber cabs are travelling at their own risk, with possible charges of aiding and abetting waiting for them in case the cab is seized by the transport officials if the law allows it.

Based on what I understood, Uber has mentioned that they have not received any written communication on the ban and hence would not be changing the current status quo.
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