[batman]

Received a notification from Times of India App that the Centre has issued advisory to all the state transport departments that Commercial driving license is not required for driving Taxi, Bike and 3 Wheeler even for commercial purposes.

http://morth.nic.in/showfile.asp?lid=3196

Do not know, how soon the state Govt.s would adhere to this judgement.

[benzinblut]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

Cons to self drive the uber:

If cops catch me, i'm in trouble because i do not have a commercial license or if there is an accident, i'll be in trouble.

Not any more: Commercial driving licence not needed for taxis, autos

Source:https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/63822859.cms

[unni246]

Originally Posted by benzinblut

Not any more: Commercial driving licence not needed for taxis, autos

Source:https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/63822859.cms

Was so happy to see this news popup today and immediately remembered this post, makes me feel the Government amended the rule after going through this thread
It's a relief and a blessing!

[anup.bronco]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

UPDATE:

Uber just reached out to me specifically quoting this thread. I knew they were very proactive on Twitter, but I'm surprised that they are monitoring Team-bhp as well.

Good to know that Uber is noticing this thread. Hope things improve for everyone, we the users and the drivers too.

[Who_are_you]

Today, after dropping my Motorcycle for service, I booked Uber pool for home at 12.40 PM in Pune. After getting in the cab, I immediately noticed the driver was not very responsive and seemed to be lost. After a little chit-chat, I came to know that he was working since 04.00 PM yesterday, that's 22 hours of non-stop driving in City. He told me, Uber app had asked him to log off, but he wanted to take this last trip as my drop was on the way to his home.

He refused my offer for tea/ coffee as he was chewing tobacco(Nagpur mawa). So, I decided to keep the conversation alive and keep him alert. He works as a truck driver for Indian oil during weekdays and Uber driver on weekends.

I felt really bad for the guy and after the drop, offered him a ride back in my car or booking another cab for him. But he politely refused and left.

I am hoping he reaches home safely and Uber should have customer care executive talk to drivers working more than 10-12 hours.

[Acharya]

Another incident involving errant Uber driver -

https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.c...w/64671684.cms

Looks like passenger was also at fault, confusion with destination and then trying to open the door in a moving car. However, any kind of physical violence is unacceptable in a customer service business. Unfortunately, there is hardly any rule of law and such people get away with this violence without much impact.

App based cabbies have started behaving like Autowallah's, Deja Vu coming true?

[kutoos]

Originally Posted by Acharya

Another incident involving errant Uber driver -

App based cabbies have started behaving like Autowallah's, Deja Vu coming true?

Courtesy begets Courtesy. In this age where manners, empathy and kindness has been tossed out, this is what will happen.

The tone of the article suggests, the passenger tried to boss over the cabbie, adding to his frustration, ergo the mess. What ever happend to a smile and a pat on the back?

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Apparently Bangalore Uber drivers hate a destination change. Last year during an event in bangalore we had taken an uber late night and last minute a girl from the event company asked if we could drop her to her place since she was alone. So after sitting in the uber we changed the destination and told the driver that once we come to the girl's location we would update the destination to the original one again.

As soon as we neared the girl's drop location, the driver accepted another incoming fare even though we saw the incoming notification and asked him not to. Then there was an argument and I called the Uber helpline via SOS option. The Uber guys tried to speak to him but he refused and then I called the cops.

The cops came and he spoke in the local dialect trying to say that we had picked up a girl for shady reasons (we were two guys and another girl in the cab anyways - excluding the girl who wanted the drop).

Even though i couldn't understand the language, the body language of the cops didn't look good so I showed the cops my Mumbai Police Hospital ID (I'm an honorary doctor to the Mumbai Police). Only after that the tables turned and the cops instructed him to drop us at our location while they followed us till the hotel.

[bhavik.1991]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

This happened last night.

2. Since drivers are online, don't they have a system to track how many working hours drivers are putting in at a stretch?

The answer from uber was typical and they skirted the 2nd question:

Originally Posted by saket77

This is one strange and hopefully 'one off' incident. But going by the knowledge we have, it must not be unusual for cab drivers like Ola/ Uber to put in much extra hours of work that they can actually handle, both physically and mentally. Because this is direct money. And in the process, they put a lot of lives on risk - the pax, other road users and theirs. Including damage to properties.

The companies should design a system where it takes care of the situation where drivers cannot drive beyond a specified single time stretch. So that they can take the required rest and stay (& keep others) safe too.

It is disheartening to see the Uber mail ducking the main question- the second question. We can just hope that they will look into the matter and come out with solutions. This is as big as a problem for them as well. They surely need to look into this aspect with their expanding network.

We live in a country where people (have to) go to extreme levels to save/earn a few extra bucks. Even if cab aggregator companies put a restriction on driving more than a specified number of hours at a stretch, some cabbies will find another job like night watchman where they can earn some extra cash & in the process, will take naps during both of their jobs.

[Rehaan]

I wrote a reply and it disappeared

Here it is again:

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

So after sitting in the uber we changed the destination and told the driver that once we come to the girl's location we would update the destination to the original one again.

Since a few months now the Uber app allows you to add multiple waypoints / stops (suggested 3-5 mins each).

It's pretty easy and convenient, and the best part is you don't have to negotiate with the driver about reaching destination 1 and then updating the address to destination 2.

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

As soon as we neared the girl's drop location, the driver accepted another incoming fare even though we saw the incoming notification and asked him not to.

Uber usually has incentives for drivers, and sometimes they get invalidated if they refuse to accept a trip!

Also sometimes incentives are based on how many trips you complete (rather than total time spent on trips) - which seems unfair.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

Apparently Bangalore Uber drivers

Hey Tejas. You've got company.

An Uber cab passenger has claimed his driver, who was a different person from the one whose name appeared on the app, was in an inebriated condition, forcing him to take the wheel to reach his residence.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/65816666.cms

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

This happened last night.

Doesn't look like your experience brought about any changes.

I had taken an Uber for a short trip on the evening of 1-Jan. During the trip, the driver kept getting calls where he talked about how many trips he'd completed. A couple of calls later, he himself started a conversation with me about how some friends of his and him had a competition going on about who would complete the most trips. Apparently, they had started early evening on 31-Dec (around 4pm) and they were still at it during my trip at around 2030 on 1-Jan. He mentioned that they were driving non-stop to make the most of the increased demand and fares during the New Year's Eve celebrations; only stopping for meals and nature's calls.

When I questioned him why, he said it was good money. When I rebutted asking if it was worth his health or worse, his/passengers'/other motorists' life, he stopped short of answering.

I dropped a note to Uber but as the below conversation highlights, doesn't look like much will come out of it. Particularly, Uber's stance of

Driver partners are encouraged to work as their will

[reignofchaos]

Uber is the most unscrupulous company out there. They don't care a damn about what their drivers do, nor about the lives of their passengers. All they care about is saving their dirty posterior.

They are simply trying to shove the dirt under the rug in this case. This has been their business strategy from day one and that is what it will be in future.

[V.Narayan]

^^^^
Libranof1987, thank you for sharing your experience and Uber's stone walling. Uber's stance that these driver partners are 'contract-vendors' is at least partly a pretence. A contract between a lion and a lamb with leverage clearly on one side. Their stone walling attitude will only get worse as their monopoly grows. Their aim is to pump in equity till they have killed the competition. Amazon & Walmart/Flipkart have the same approach though they may be more scrupulous.

[Hayek]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

^^^^
Libranof1987, thank you for sharing your experience and Uber's stone walling. Uber's stance that these driver partners are 'contract-vendors' is at least partly a pretence. A contract between a lion and a lamb with leverage clearly on one side.

At one level you are right, but at another level, we have very different expectations from Uber vs either Black Yellow Cabs or other vendors.

Over the years, I have had several terrible experiences with Black and Yellow cabs -Driver’s refusing to ply, accepting a fare from the airport and then forcing you to either pay more or get out of the car half way, being obviously drunk etc. A friend was once punched by a cab driver when he sat in the car and insisted the driver ply or drive to a police station. A sleepy driver would certainly not have been something that I would have been very worried about.

I have also had bad experiences with drivers from expensive hire car services (will leave the brands out but these are top brand names) - especially when the car that turned up was from one of their outsourcing partners. All of that was accepted as par for the course.

But when something goes wrong with Uber (including when the car is marginally dirty or does not have a functioning rear seat belt), we object. That’s the price they pay for investors valuing them at USD 120 bn.

The fact is that Uber is an aggregator which has made our lives simpler - and cannot have the same level of control over its driver partners as a company has over employees. Forget that, even in a company with over a 100000 employees, they would not be able to control every one of them.

So let’s recognise that Uber (and Ola for that matter) have made our lives better and that they are trying hard to do what they can. Also as long as we keep entry barriers for cab aggregators low, their hope of becoming monopolists will be in vain.