At one time, your only taxi option was painted black & yellow. Luxury arrived in the nineties with air-conditioned 'cool cabs' wearing blue & silver clothes. Then came the radio taxi services (Meru, TabCab, Mega Cabs etc.) promising convenience & better cars (Logans vs Padminis). The next wave of superior cabs is from Uber, a revolutionary service that has disrupted the taxi business in many markets worldwide.
Also competing in this premium segment are
Ola Cabs and
Meru Plus (Meru's premium offering).
So, how does Uber work?
Uber (headquartered in USA) is a premium cab service, now operating in various Indian cities. Uber itself doesn't own any cars at all. Rather, it has tie-ups with local car rental agencies. All cabs that I've called were basically from companies offering their excess capacity to Uber. Remember, an idle vehicle & driver still cost their company $$$. One driver claimed to be making 6 - 7 trips on his 'Uber' days with a 12 hour shift.
Download the Uber App on your smartphone, register, feed in your credit card details and you're all set. Whenever you need a cab next, fire up the App. It'll automatically detect your current location and also show you the nearest cab's expected arrival time (ETA). Yes, you can cancel the booking at no charge if it's within 5 minutes.
Here's my review after using Uber nearly 20 times since their Mumbai launch.
What you’ll like:
+ One of the biggest draws of Uber is undoubtedly the kind of cars they arrange for you. Take a look at this Uber BMW that came to pick us up. We've been sent everything from a Honda Accord and Toyota Fortuner to a BMW 5-Series and the mighty Mercedes S-Class! The
lowest Uber we've ridden in is the Innova (although Mod Ajmat ended up in a cramped Fiesta once).
+ Quick & simple booking process via the smartphone App. No dialing or waiting to be attended by a call center executive. I must add that the Meru taxi App is pretty good too (
link).
+ No need to have cash or the exact change on you. At the end of your trip, your card is automatically charged online and a receipt emailed to you.
+ Extremely courteous drivers (9 out of 10 times). Mom - a senior citizen - is all praises for Uber. Not only do they open the door for her, but they also unfailingly park at just the right spot, so she doesn't have to walk too much. We had some inconsistency with our full-time driver in April-May; his absence didn't bother the women at all.
+ Cheaper than owning a 2nd / 3rd car in the house, if you consider the total cost of ownership (
article link) and in some cases, the chauffeur's salary too.
+ The same rates for day & night service. This is unlike radio taxi services which charge a premium after midnight (
example).
+ Tax deductible if used for & shown as a business expense. Only applicable to companies & the self-employed.
+ If you've booked an Uber cab for someone else (say old people, women or kids), you can keep an eye on their real-time location via the smartphone app.
+ Arguably safer than other alternatives. Better cars (safer build & features) and trained drivers. I'd prefer Uber at late night & when family members require a taxi.
+ Internationally, Uber recruits individual drivers as well. In India, they've only tied up with professional rental agencies. This is definitely a smart move, considering the dynamics of our market and the law & order situation.
What you won't like:
- Mostly (60% of the time in my experience), you'll end up with an Innova or Altis. From what I've seen, the premium Europeans are available only during the day (morning - afternoon bookings).
- Noticeably more expensive than a typical radio taxi service, and a lot more than black & yellow cabs. This is especially so when the travel duration is long. Example: for a Dadar - Churchgate commute during rush hours (60 minutes & 14 kms), Uber will charge me Rs. 458. A Meru would cost Rs. 287 only. Uber is cheaper per km, but a base fare of 100 & the Rs. 2 / minute fee makes it more expensive.
The more time you rent it for, the higher the premium. On the other hand, the difference is slim for the same trip at late night (30 minutes); Rs. 398 for Uber vs 359 for Meru. I've used Uber several times after nights out and the difference is negligible.
- In addition to the previous point, there is no 'running meter' in the car (like other cabs have). You don't know your trip cost until you reach your destination. That said, Uber does offer a 'fare quote' feature which gives you an estimated price range.
- You can't book a car much in advance and there's no 'fixed time' pickup either. Got an early morning flight? Need a pickup at a fixed time? It's probably better to book a traditional radio taxi service in that case. With Uber, you can book a cab in real-time
only and the pickup time varies from 5 - 60 minutes. Uber is sometimes really fast to arrive, and awfully slow at others. 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! It's difficult to plan in advance with them. There have been situations where I'd wanted an Uber cab, but ended up in a radio taxi / black & yellow instead.
- Unrealistic ETA. Uber doesn't seem to account for traffic conditions!! Consider the screengrab below. At 1926 hours (i.e. rush hour traffic), Uber claims that its taxi can travel from Saki Naka to the Dadar pickup location in 22 minutes. Unless that particular car wore wings, I can assure you it's impossible.
- Another disadvantage is that the ETA can increase
after you book a cab! When we called for an Uber car to drive us to the airport, the ETA initially showed 5 minutes. Well, 5 minutes later, it increased to 20! I reiterate, it's hard to plan with Uber. Booking their cabs is a hit or miss.
- Fairly unreliable during peak hours. I've seen this message more often than I should have from a company providing premium-priced services:
- A whopping 200 rupee cancellation fee if you hit the 'cancel' button after 5 minutes of booking.
- You can't specify the type of car you need. For example, if there is a group of 5 adults travelling, you can't ask for an Innova only.
- The amount that eventually shows up on your credit card statement is a bit higher (in the single digits) than what the Uber receipt says. This is probably due to Uber using an international payment gateway and the forex conversion rates used by local credit card companies? Either way, it's an annoyance at the time of tallying my credit card statement with my accounting software.
Overall, I'd give Uber a score of 7.5 out of 10. When I'd initially started using their service, it was a solid 10/10. However, after seeing their performance in varying conditions, some cracks started to show. I'll give Uber a 'good' rating, but certainly not 'excellent'.
Old Uber Thread (now closed): Link