[hothatchaway]

The founders at Ola have been at loggerheads with their principal financier in order to retain control. This may have resulted in funding drying up. Also, they have taken too many bets, sometimes in distantly related businesses like food delivery. There is only so much cash to burn and the app cab incentive model can burn through piles of them.

Their latest pitch is EV. The app cab business is perhaps being asked to fend for itself. Uber in comparison is better funded. Having exited from China and merged with grab in South East Asia, India is a priority for Uber.

[Hayek]

Had not noticed this (am not a more than 2-3 trips a week user), but just checked and found it is true, at least right now. Suggests one of two things:

1) People are not comparison shopping that much; or
2) Ola is rightsizing it’s fleet and trying for lower losses;

Perhaps both.

The pricing of Ola and Uber (AC rides for less than a Black / Yellow cab) has been clearly unsustainable. With money from SoftBank likely to dry up (Google the WeWork IPO to understand why), the party is almost over - and I suspect many Consumer Tech start ups (including veterans like the two above) will need to start demonstrating a path to break even. Healthy for the industry in my view - else they may blow up and end badly for all concerned.

[sunilch]

The OP lives/travels in and around Mumbai and hence for some folks from other areas this may not hold true.

But this has been my observation for the last 2-3 months. Ola prices are way too high (at times upto 30%) when compared to the same from Uber. However, this holds true only for the Mini and Micro options. If you opt for Prime Sedan option then the price will be, in all likely hood, either near by or very slightly lower. On a casual chat with one of the drivers, I was informed that the company has actually removed some Micro + Mini drivers, upgraded some Micro + Mini to Prime and has is also adding more Prime Sedan drivers recently. Hence you see the difference. Not sure about the actual numbers for this transition, and if it holds true for all markets.


-Sunil

[GTO]

Wow, I'm shocked by the poll . Over 90% of BHPians agree. Ola had better watch out as Indians are incredibly price sensitive and there is really no differentiation between itself & Uber. A cab is a cab is a cab. You get the same kind of cars & drivers on both platforms, with similar variances in quality.

[aargee]

Now it's 92%

I'm surprised anyone noticing it just now (or to have started a thread now) because it has been like this for more than a year now. Even during off peak hours or early morning, Ola is slightly higher than Uber.

Very rarely Ola is cheaper than Uber & that cheap would be atrociously cheap (read Rs 180 of Uber compared to Rs 114 of Ola), mostly for autorickshaw rides.

So for over a year now, I would've booked Ola may be 2 or 3 times compared to 15+ times of Uber. That's my stats.

[nikhilthegunner]

That's always been the case for as long as I can remember. Ola has always been more expensive than Uber and the service is not as great. Uber is always preferred because their customer support in my experience has been good. Of course, since I drive most of the time I hardly use Uber/Ola anymore.

[invidious]

It's also about the Uber Ride Pass and the Ola equivalent (I forget the nomenclature). Uber routinely offers me flat 10% off as a Paytm First member for Rs. 5 every month and flat 20% off if I pay about Rs. 200 a month. The ola system was more complex - I looked it up and it was based on Km and limited your number of rides. Also my parents who are in their 70s now are very comfortable using Uber - they have a lite app which makes it even easier.

I've used Ola only via the PhonePe app as that accepts Auto Pay by credit card. I am not going to be bothered putting money in a wallet I will never use like Ola Wallet

[robindsouza82]

Even in my experience in Bengaluru, during my to and fro commute between Marathalli and Basavanagudi, I have found Uber auto to be at least 10% cheaper than Ola Auto

The Uber Go is always cheaper than Ola Mini / Micro.

But in terms of availability, I feel Ola has an edge...

[aniyo]

I hardly use Ola/Uber unless I am heading out for a drink. My wife is super strict with this.
Today I was trying to get Ola and Uber was getting neither and ended up taking an auto for almost the same price of Uber. The only advantage is that auto will take you at least 30% faster to the destination.
My wife hates auto though as it spoils her hair. It's quite easy being a man I say.

[rajwheelz]

It's 100% of the time for me. I only opt an OLA only if Uber is 15 mins away and I am in an urgency.

Makes me wonder sometimes if the algorithm to decide the price is AI driven and the constraints set by OLA seem more inclined towards cab availability based surge as opposed to Uber's demand based surge. My two cents.

[InControl]

Apart from being costlier, what I have observed is that even if you exit or kill the Ola app, it still keeps searching for a cab and assigns it(without showing on the notification). Many times I am already on my way on the Uber and i get a call from Ola driver saying that Sir where are you? I am at the location.

Only when i launch the Ola app again, I will notice that an ola cab has also been booked.

[Carate_Kid]

I travel quite a bit around the country for work commitments. Here are my 2 cents. In smaller metros like Ahmedabad, Dehradun, Patna and smaller towns like Jabalpur, Varanasi, Ola is more accessible and available as compared to Uber.

In metros, Uber is more frequently available and more economical as well.

Uber's pricing for rental rides is very tricky and it has been expensive almost every single time as compared to Ola. Point to point rides its Ola that has been on the expensive side.

Another point to note is that surge pricing is not applicable on Ola in rental rides. Last month I was in Dehradun and from city center to airport Ola was showing around 900 Rs for a one way ride for around 23 kms. I happily booked a 2 hour rental and paid ~550 Rs with taxes . It may be slightly difficult to get rental cabs for 1 / 2 hours in metros like Mumbai, Delhi etc. as drivers wants to take advantage of surge pricing. Dehradun airport ride is a classic example where the drop location is determining the cost rather than the no of cars, the distance or the traffic.

[freakmuzik]

Have always felt this and as I was checking both my apps, I have hardly made 10 Ola rides in the last five months against over 50 rides in Uber. Ola has been expensive for sure. And with Uber, a thing that I love is the number of times my Micro ride has been upgraded to a Sedan (Etios/ Dzire/ Zest). I really appreciate that. It has rarely happened in Ola. And this OTP thing is a little annoying because I always forget to check that, maybe being used to booking an Uber more.

[PPS]

Uber to be probed for alleged abuse of dominant position and predatory pricing - Supreme Court.

Perhaps this could be the reason why!

https://barandbench.com/uber-to-be-p...supreme-court/

https://sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2017...3-Sep-2019.pdf

The Supreme Court has declined to interfere in the order passed by the Competition Appellate Tribunal which had directed a probe against Uber for predatory pricing and abuse of dominant position
Meru Taxi Services had approached the Competition Commission of India (CCI) alleging that Uber is indulging in predatory pricing and misuse of its dominant position in the market. While the CCI had rejected the complaint, the Competition Appellate Tribunal, on appeal, had directed the Director-General of the CCI's investigation department to conduct a probe into the complaint.
Uber had appealed to the Supreme Court against this order.
A Bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman and Surya Kant of the Supreme Court has now dismissed the same giving a green signal for the investigation. The Supreme Court has, in fact, directed that the probe be completed within a period of six months.
The Court arrived at this conclusion after perusing the data regarding Uber's pricing provided by the complainant in the original complaint. According to the data, Uber's rides were being priced lower than they were supposed to. This practice was done to eliminate competition, according to the complaint.

[vivek_lm]

Almost a couple of years back, it used to be exactly the opposite. I used to prefer only Ola back then. But, over the past one year at least, it's been consistently Uber that's been considerably cheaper 9/10 times. These days I check Ola just as a ritual.

Here in Bangalore, I also find Meru to be cheaper than Ola, and sometimes (mostly during surge periods) even cheaper than Uber! Meru also has only sedans (Etios/Dzire/Verito), so the ride is guaranteed to be more comfortable. I'm particular about avoiding Indicas in general because they tend to be less cleaner. So it's either Uber or Meru for me.