[mac187]

First, you did good @afunnynut Helping out a fellow human being in a medical emergency is God's work.

I do not think this is a question of Uber having its call center or helpline. This is a question of empathy and capitalism.

Providing basic support to employee who make money for you is a reasonable expectation. But if the premise of the company itself is built on hands-off approach and so called "low cost", it becomes a financial issue.

Ride sharing apps are under fire world over due to these exact reasons. The first problem is ride sharing apps do not consider the drivers as their employees. Hence they will not even think of providing them a group insurance cover, which i think is negligible cost atleast in India.

Uber doesn't need to have a helpline, if the driver can expect his medical cost to be reimbursed by insurance. Also having efficient emergency response (of any nature) is the duty of the government. They can charge money for it (I know they do in Aus) which is ok if the ambulance or fire truck arrives when you need one.

Note: I firmly believe that the likes of OLA and Uber have made hailing a cab mainstream, which wasn't considered earlier due to high cost and tedious process (atleast for me).

[noopster]

Very good article on the issue of a common 911-like helpline that was referred to in my earlier post. Please read.
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/columns/...w/52459763.cms

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by noopster

Very good article on the issue of a common 911-like helpline that was referred to in my earlier post. Please read.

Yes. A very valid point. But so far, my interaction with 100 was quite positive. I've called them a number of times, twice for accidents and they were prompt but still could have been faster. During Ganapati season, calls to 100 have lead to lowering volumes in nearby pandals and a strict 10pm enforcement.

But problem is, 100 call centres are limited. And even if they are there, the personnel there are least bothered. The fastest way to get things done is unfortunately still by "pehechan". Having contacts in police is the only way to get prompt response.

Visit your local police station and get friendly with the incharge; sometimes, if you spot police at nakabandi near your home, offer them some tea and biscuits. Ultimately they work an ungodly number of hours, esp when VIPs come, or during festival season. Build a rapport. That's sad but true.

[SatsMumbai]

Originally Posted by afunnynut

Note: Long post!

I took an Uber ride

I took the driver to the Gangotri Hospital at BTM layout on the main road.

Excellent Response! Kudos to you for taking care of the situation in such a great way. I think this should stay as inspiration or guidance when some one else is in a similar situation and be able to respond.

Regarding what Uber should or should not.. it looks like quite a few people are missing a crucial point. Uber is not a traditional company and being a platform aggregator it might or might not have the same liabilities or responsibilities as traditional companies would have towards the employees.

Not just here but elsewhere too, the frustration of the inability of our system / government is deflected towards the one that seems to be more visible target - Uber.

I have a feeling, that those people who are commenting on helpline that Uber SHOULD have, are either new users of cab system or not used can system including Uber much. Do not get me wrong, I am with you guys that a helpline is a welcome addition but IMO, but not at the cost of going easy on our own government / system.
Uber is simply connecting drivers to passengers in a simple and possibly more reliable way. I remember the times very clearly the many number of times where the regular cab system (approved by government - black & yellow) is not available near me, not knowing when it will be available, not coming to my destination as per meter, not knowing if he will take the shortest route or taking me literally for a ride etc etc. And then comes Uber (or other app based cab hailing services), then suddenly it did not look hopeless any more and it gone to the extent that the car is used less and less and Uber more and more. I can't thank enough for Uber doing something in the system that is not possible earlier.
But it looks many of us either do not know how it WAS or do not remember it any more.
Pre-Uber times, I do not have any clue what to do if my black-yellow cab driver gets a heart attack. Probably would have done something on similar lines to OP's response. But that would be the end of it. I would have shared my experience on the forum and connected more. Do I want to feel more sure what to do? Yes! But for that I will not address the cab company but the system / government to have a functioning helpline number which is more in tune with the local health & hospital system than a company running its own call center to guide me to do.
Same is with the criminal record of a driver employed by Uber. It's a similar no objection certificate that we all get from Police when there is a Passport verification. Isn't the police who issued the no-objection certificate be responsible for what the driver does on a trip? He can be driving Uber or Ola or black-yellow taxi.
I am constantly concerned about the insensitive comments about Uber which some times spiral into banning of the platform which will again push us back to dark-ages of what I wrote in the beginning of posts.
Let us vent our annoyance at the right body and hopefully it will turn into more actionable functional system / government than a temporary non-solutions of banning the platforms.

[karuvally]

Thank you for being a good human. People like you are an inspiration to the rest of us. And thank you for raising a very valid point and making it visible enough for netizens to see it.

[Mortis]

Since it is being discussed I wanted to find out in Mumbai can I dial 100 from my mobile and get through or is it only for landlines ?

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by Mortis

Since it is being discussed I wanted to find out in Mumbai can I dial 100 from my mobile and get through or is it only for landlines ?

You can dial 100 from your mobile. I have done it quite often.

[afunnynut]

Well just got this from Twitter.

[GranvilleDsouza]

Great work there @afunnynut. People like you are hard to find. Agree they need a number so in case of such emergencies, they can atleast get in touch with the family and inform them about the incident. They totally should have that emergency contact detail in place and not just for documentation purposes!

[afunnynut]

Here you go. This seems to be the "Driver Support" number that I got. Seems to work. I just tried it

Uber Driver Support India: 1800-103-0088

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by Mortis

Since it is being discussed I wanted to find out in Mumbai can I dial 100 from my mobile and get through or is it only for landlines ?

Not just 100, mobile operators have a acceptance testing list which includes calls to all emergency numbers. We were working on this for a client few years back, we had to make calls to 100,101,102 among others. What operator does is they route this call to the actual landline number of emergency services in backend.

However, should add that apart from police many places had issues with other emergency numbers being not attended by anyone.

[autotranny]

On a side note, there is a Uber like app called Grab in South East Asia which is quite popular. During one of my recent trips, I was checking with a Tamil driver in Kuala Lumpur on this app and he advised me not to use it since, any taxi called using the app does not provide insurance to passengers for any eventualities that happen during the trip. Whereas if you just hire that same taxi off the road, you are fully covered for accidents as well as theft.

Not quite relevant to this thread. Sorry.

[DRIV3R]

Here is one more incident with the same callous attitude from Uber!

http://thelogicalindian.com/my-story...-decent-speed/

[afunnynut]

Those pictures are horrifying indeed! Luckily most of the ones involved survived!