Team-BHP - Ola & Uber might suffer ban in Karnataka. EDIT: Ola gets KA License
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Ola and Uber might soon suffer a ban on their operations in Karnataka. The state authorities had already announced that all taxi operators and aggregators who do not have valid license from the state government should stop their operations from immediate effect. But Ola and Uber have continued to provide ride hailing services in Bangalore. This has been considered as a defiance of Government orders, which might lead to a ban on the two cab aggregators.

Till now, state transport authorities had avoided a ban on Ola and Uber since Bangalore hosted the IPL finals on May 29, 2016. This meant that there were hundreds of cricket fans who might have needed on-demand taxis to ply to-and-fro the match venue. As a result, authorities tried to avoid any inconvenience to resident as well as tourist cricket fans. But with the IPL final out of the way, the government might soon take strict actions against Ola and Uber.

The ban in question is the state government's attempt to bring Ola and Uber under the new guidelines laid out for app-based taxi services. In order to get a state license, the companies will need to adhere to many new regulations, that include no surge pricing when the demand is high, better driver background checks, and sticking to the fare chart decided by the Government.

Link to Team-BHP News

The taxi drivers are apparently planning a strike tomorrow protesting against this. I was told about this by the Uber driver with whom I rode today.

The ban, if enforced, could create a big difficulty for end users as well as the civic authorities.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dZired (Post 3985517)
the companies will need to adhere to many new regulations, that include no surge pricing when the demand is high, better driver background checks, and sticking to the fare chart decided by the Government.

Link to Team-BHP News

Essentially the government is planning to kill the business. Ola and Uber are not only convenient but the service standards are also maintained well. Introducing Government decided fare chart will prove to be a death knell to the business. Ola and Uber drivers will start fleecing or refusing commuters just like auto rickshaw drivers.
Why does government have to poke holes into successful business ventures? I don't understand?

While a ban would be too much, but surge pricing must be controlled. OLA promises Rs 6/km rates, but surge pricing often exceeds 6 times that. That is ridiculous!

Also, there must be a panic button in the car (for the passenger/driver - UBER driver gets a heart attack thread).

I don't understand why the government can't make a law that allows surge pricing, tax revenue would be huge if surge pricing was taxed at a flat rate.

People are informed will in advance about surge pricing, nothing prevents them from taking a bus or rick if they find the prices unaffordable. People who whine about surge pricing want the convenience without paying for it. Wonder if the government will seize the autos that charge twice the taxi fare?

I think Ola/Uber pricing model is highly deceptive.

Not only do they charge for the distance, but also for the time. Come peak time, the time based component inherently introduces surge pricing due to the extra time that the travel takes, but they additionally include a surge pricing on both components again. Even when there is no surge pricing, the overall cost is almost 1.4 times the advertised cost of Rs. 6/10 per km.

And I find this surge pricing algorithm more opportunistic than based on load. NEver been able to understand this. I sometimes see 5 cabs in my vicinity, but there would be a 1.6x surge pricing. Surely if demand was high, there would not be 5 cabs available to me.

The same, when done by a auto rikshaw, we cry foul. So either government should control both, or let loose both the modes. Looks like they are opting for the former.

Aha, the license raj rearing its ugly head ... and the applauding public (few I can see on this thread itself).

Whatever you may call it, how much ever you may abuse the pricing, the fact is that it is because of Ola and Uber that you can think of NOT buying a vehicle if all you plan to do is travel inside the city.

The KA Govt rules have proposed a ceiling of Rs 19.50 for all radio taxis.
Taxi operators are free do whatever nonsense (like surge pricing, ride time etc) they can, but the rate cannot exceed Rs 19.50.

In my opinion, this is a good move. At least now there is an upper ceiling on the rate.
This is one of the very few good decisions made by the govt.
Loot of any kind must be stopped. Ola & Uber's surge pricing is exactly similar to Auto wala's double or triple charges during Night and Rains. Exploitation of customers must be stopped.

By the way, these Cab aggregators do not have any 'service' standards as such. Numerous times, I have personally faced delays due to taxi not showing up, cancellation of booking just 2mins earlier, Taxi driver arriving with a 'friend', Saar, Taxi met with accident and other horse dung etc.
In all the cases above, the customer 'service' extended to me was zero. :deadhorse

This seems to be a logical move by the government. I have never been able to understand why there are different standards applied to taxi aggregators vs the regular black and yellow cabs. When the regular cab driver wants to charge more, it is called fleecing, exploiting the situation etc. But when it is a large corporation like an aggregator or an airline, they will use economics terminology such as demand and supply, efficient market etc. and somehow that is considered OK. let us have a clear policy which decides whether fares should be fixed or flexible, and apply the same rules to all taxis.

I don't understand why surge is wrong. It is like saying railways shouldn't have premium tatkal, airline prices should be fixed, pulse, vegetables should come at fixed rate, restaurants should sell at fixed costs. It is just like if I can't buy it I will not buy it or should I ask government to control because I think it is expensive. Options exists if I can't pay for surge I can opt for other modes like govt. Licensed taxi who go by approved rates. I have been using uber for a long time and I have seen my avergae cost is much lesser than when I had to used only easy cabs or meru.

On a lighter note, I was starting to get worried as there was no news of a ban on anything since almost two weeks now!

I think Uber and Ola are creating an atmosphere where Govt of Karnataka (GoK) is blamed and giving an impression that GoK is killing the Cab Aggregators business. I think this is completely wrong and false information being spread.

Backgorund -

1. Ola, TaxiforSure and Uber were complaining for long time that there is no Govt policy to follow and hence they are following their interpretation of the policy by Transportation Department.

2. Since the time the GoK has come up with a policy, cab aggregators are crying fowl instead of following the policy. Since its not very convenient to them anymore

3. None of the cab aggregators are supposed to run in the city limits since they dont have a city permit or they are not registered as a metered cab. Uber and Ola were only supposed to ply intercity.

4. Most of the Cab which are run for Uber/Ola are registered as Intercity Cab and obtained license. They dont have metered cab license and hence cannot pick and drop commuters in the city. But the policy had a loophole which was being exploited by Cab Aggregators


What is GoK Policy states -

1. Taxi taking license for City/Metered Cab have to give up State or National Permits

2. Strict background check of drivers and the same has to be submitted to RTO/Police. Its means drivers cannot pop in pop out of Uber/Ola on their wish

3. Detailed description of what kind of GPS/GPRS needs to be installed in the Cab, monitoring the same by a control room

4. Panic button which will not only alert the control room but also police

5. Maximum Rs. 19.50 per KM for AC and 14.50 for non AC.

6. Cab aggregators cannot exceed this ceiling, but can give what ever discount they want.

7. No surge pricing in peak hours and difficult situation (rains), it should not cross the price ceiling set

Not sure how these are inconvenient to the general public and how this will kill the business. If the GoK puts its foot down, the Cab aggregators will turn around and the business will be as usual.

Regards

Since I also use taxi for all my city and out of station travels, I want to share my experience with Zyppys an app based taxi facilitator for out station trips. I have attached a snap shot of my feedback on their Facebook homepage. These app based taxi facilitators are making profits without getting involved in any of the real time problems. The drivers never get the benefit from surcharges (1.6X, 2.6X, 3X), Ola has started charging 1.6X to 1.9X during broad daylight. There is no unity among drivers because so many inexperienced drivers have taken the vehicles’ from Ola and they risk losing their job and vehicle. Drivers who own the vehicles have slowly stopped operating for Ola due to fear from RTO and Police. There is another group of vehicle owners in Ola who have leased the cabs to drivers on percentage basis, so when you book a cab, the app provides the details of registered owner but actual driver will be different. In such cases drivers refuse to show the display boards. I have personally experienced rowdy sheeters turning out as pickup drivers. There is another elite group of drivers who start trips without picking up customers and cheat customers using Ola money.
The customer details are not confidential because drivers play around with customers and force them to make calls from their personal numbers. If you cancel the trip, drivers turn up at drop locations from nowhere and threaten customers directly. In spite of serving legal notice and escalating things nothing has changed. Ola and Uber continue to remain deaf and arrogant in their operational procedures. It is better that the people behind all these mess are black listed. Startups with apps is becoming a comedy in India as the brains behind these apps have no experience about realistic conditions

Quote:

Originally Posted by avira_tk (Post 3985672)
I don't understand why the government can't make a law that allows surge pricing, tax revenue would be huge if surge pricing was taxed at a flat rate.

People are informed will in advance about surge pricing, nothing prevents them from taking a bus or rick if they find the prices unaffordable.

The challenge is when you get into a cab which is not road-worthy and you see the travelling time increasing from 60 minutes to 150 minutes, you will have to pay INR 90 extra because travelling time is also billed at the rate of Rs.1/min. Ola claims that all their vehicles are in pristine condition, then how do you see cabs especially old Indicas without power steering and AC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deehunk (Post 3986155)
The challenge is when you get into a cab which is not road-worthy and you see the travelling time increasing from 60 minutes to 150 minutes, you will have to pay INR 90 extra because travelling time is also billed at the rate of Rs.1/min. Ola claims that all their vehicles are in pristine condition, then how do you see cabs especially old Indicas without power steering and AC.

You don't want to pay for the driver's time but want the convenience of just in time. Just drive a car in peak traffic and see what happens to fuel economy, the taxi fare has to include all input costs not just fuel and it won't be covered by the 14.5 per km fare set by the government. Bangalore traffic takes its toll, even if the car is brand new. A few bad apples do exist, but you can opt out with a combination of bmtc and the local auto and see how it works out.

Unionized taxi services just lead to a shortage, the government has no clue about this business model but thinks prices should not be affected by demand. The transport department can first go after ksrtc which charges extra on weekends, good for me not for thee is bad legal precedent.


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