[blackwasp]

Of late, I have noticed that Ola's pricing has shot up. As compared to Uber, it is noticeably more expensive at the same time for the same route & same class of car. Was frankly surprised, so 5 of us in the Team-BHP office checked our individual phones and - 8 out of 10 times - Ola was significantly pricier.

Here are a couple of examples:

Konkan Bhavan, Belapur to BARC, Trombay - there was no Ola sedan available.
Uber: Rs. 433 / 500
Ola: Rs. 519 / -


IIT Main Gate to Airoli Railway Station - no sedans available in Ola + whopping 97% higher fare than Uber!
Uber: Rs. 219 / 256
Ola: Rs. 433 / -


CST to Sector 17, Vashi - here Ola is priced ~50% higher for a Mini and more than twice as much for a sedan.
Uber: Rs. 359 / 408
Ola: Rs. 524 / 957


Ramada, Mahape to Brahmand, GB Road, Thane.
Uber: Rs. 255 / 264
Ola: Rs. 297 / 348-379


Panvel station to Nerul Fire brigade. Not only was Ola very expensive, its hatchback was costlier than the sedan.
Uber: Rs. 192 / 227
Ola: Rs. 431 / 374


Seawoods Grand Central Mall to Moraj Residency Sanpada.
Uber: Rs. 192 / 234
Ola: Rs. 247 / 287-298


Nehru Planetarium to Fountain Hotel. Again, one of the sedan options was cheaper than the hatchback in Ola. But, a big difference in prices between Uber and OLA.
Uber: Rs. 601 / 675
Ola: Rs. 875 / 803-968


Mantralaya to Century Bazaar.
Uber: Rs. 175 / Rs. 211
Ola: Rs. 240 / Rs. 305-425


Oshiwara bus depot to Mira Bhayandar. This one again has a huge disparity, despite both Uber and Ola showing surge pricing.
Uber: Rs. 419 / 480
Ola: Rs. 645 / 706-715


Thane Sessions Court to Shil Phata. Difference between Ola's hatch and sedan wasn't much. Both were significantly more expensive than Uber.
Uber: Rs. 263 / Rs. 306
Ola: Rs. 487 / 496-497


BKC to Palava City. A fairly long trip, but once again, Ola was priced way higher.
Uber: Rs. 481 / 548
Ola: Rs. 722 / 776-825


Wadala to R City Mall.
Uber: Rs. 223 / 241
Ola: Rs. 360 / 437-447


Disclaimers:

• On the evening of the 9th of Sept, it was Uber that was more expensive. I checked on South Mumbai to Jogeshwari, Kurla to Nerul and BKC to Airoli routes.
• There are also times when the difference between the two is negligible.
• However, most times and all things being the same (car type, location), I've found Ola to be the more expensive. It's the main reason behind this thread.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Street Experiences Section. Thanks for sharing!

This has been my experience too and I'm extremely disappointed by this. Reasons = I actually prefer Ola because of their Prime Play Music (automatically starts where I left off the last time) and mostly, I've found their cab availability to be better. But there is no way I'm paying 25 - 50% more over Uber. Because of Ola's stupid new pricing strategy, I have 2 grand left in the Ola wallet that I've not been able to utilise.

Here are two live examples. Ola had no hatchbacks, but see the difference in sedan pricing!

[2000rpm]

Completely agree. Ola is run like a typical Indian lala company which will maximize profit by taking advantage of scarcity - for customers and drivers. They want a pie of the entire ecosystem. The Ola driver at the end of the month is making the same money as they would by working as a driver in a city like Mumbai. (~18000-20000).

Nothing unethical here by the way, just the way they do business.

I have personally started using CEO cabs as well. I am rooting for a third player.

[abhi7013]

Wasn't this the case most of the times? This is what i used to do since almost more than a year. Open both apps, compare both the prices and 7 out of 10 instances it was always Uber that offered a cheaper ride. Not sure if things have changed much now as i haven't opened them in the past two months.
So i don't think there was anything sudden as i saw this trend before as mentioned. Maybe the price difference has become more, that should be it.

[AnandB]

Ola has always been costlier for me in Mumbai, always choose Uber there. Not to mention Uber has fixed pricing i think. Just couple of days back I was in Hyderabad and in afternoon both Ola/Uber showed similar rate (chose Ola) but in evening Ola's rate was double of Uber (from Forum mall to HICC) 120 vs 250 (if I remember correctly), chose Uber obviously.

[jayguar]

Of late, I have been experiencing poor/no availability with Ola whereas it was easy to get a cab in Uber. This is in Chennai. Uber used to be expensive when compared to Ola but now unable to see if Ola has become more expensive than Uber.

[myavu]

Originally Posted by GTO

I have 2 grand left in the Ola wallet that I've not been able to utilise.

I am using OLA postpaid these days. Just pay twice monthly. So no need to fill the OLA money wallet periodically.

As observed by everyone OLA is close to 30 - 40% costlier that UBER many a times. Few days back a 16 KM ride from CP, the olashare fare was just Rs. 80 less than a proper Mini fare.

[DeKay]

Earlier Ola and Uber were perfectly substitutable services for me; prices were more or less at par and availability was similar too. For the past few months however, not only is Ola more expensive in Mumbai now, but I've also noticed a significant drop in cab availability across categories. Definitely 25-30% more expensive than Uber every time; not to mention longer wait times.

Needless to say, I've stopped using Ola.

[boniver]

In Kolkata, I've always found Ola to be more expensive than Uber. I kept both the apps on my phone for a couple of months when they were first introduced, and then I deleted the Ola app completely, since it had never been used. Have used Ola only once till date: there was an emergency at home and we needed to book multiple cars. So I booked one Ola and one Uber from my phone, and all of us cousins did the same. Even on that occasion, I remember the Ola fares being atleast Rs. 50 more than what the Uber fares were (over a distance of 10kms). So this is nothing new to me.

[rovingeye]

I've also noticed another phenomenon - Ola and Uber both show surge pricing at about the same time. My regular commute costs me about Rs 180, when things are sane. But, every once in a while, both Ola and Uber show me Rs 350-370 for the same distance and same class of vehicles. Do they have a way to compare prices against each other or what?

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Of late, I have noticed that Ola's pricing has shot up. As compared to Uber, it is noticeably more expensive at the same time for the same route & same class of car. Was frankly surprised, so 5 of us in the Team-BHP office checked our individual phones and - 8 out of 10 times - Ola was significantly pricier.

Without the time of the day information and rain condition, we really cannot compare.
If these instances were during the office hours and/or during heavy rains then the surge pricing will distort the comparisons. Uber's surge may be way different compared to Ola's surge based on the cab's availability in the vicinity.

Originally Posted by GTO

This has been my experience too and I'm extremely disappointed by this. Reasons = I actually prefer Ola because of their Prime Play Music (automatically starts where I left off the last time)

Off late I have observed that the Ola prime play cabs have the screen missing, or network outages thus leaving a "bitter taste".

Originally Posted by rovingeye

I've also noticed another phenomenon - Ola and Uber both show surge pricing at about the same time. My regular commute costs me about Rs 180, when things are sane. But, every once in a while, both Ola and Uber show me Rs 350-370 for the same distance and same class of vehicles. Do they have a way to compare prices against each other or what?

In metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai etc almost the entire population commutes during the "office hours". Quite natural then that there will be shortage of cabs of both Uber and Ola at the same time. Most people use both the apps.

[adi.mariner]

I have experienced the pricing difference in between Ola and Uber when commuting from the Pune Airport to my house. Specially the flights which land early morning (around 3-5 am). The last time I had to take an Auto because both the Ola/Uber drivers cancelled the trips as I was going to a nearby location. The Auto fare was almost 60 % of the Taxi fare. I didn't mind as I was travelling light.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Of late, I have noticed that Ola's pricing has shot up

I've actually observed for a while; Ola generally works out more expensive than Uber: comparing Go with Micro/Mini and Premium with Prime. The catch though, Uber's final fare can shoot up if you're stuck in traffic.

there was no Ola sedan available

This is my single biggest complaint with Ola; finding a cab is exceedingly difficult during a busy time. Uber somehow manages to get you a cab, even if it a good 10-20min away. But Ola, with their absolutely rotten UI, is frustrating.

I haven't taken an Ola is a very long time, and that is saying a lot, considering I take a cab twice a day, almost through the week.

[airbus]

For me Ola was always more expensive than Uber. Whenever I am in need of a cab, mostly I use Uber.

[ashis89]

I use cabs very rarely. Last week, when I was looking for cabs, I didn't get any in OLA but got them every time on Uber. The prices were reasonable too.

I have chatted to the drivers in Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar in the past 3 months. They mentioned OLA is giving "slightly better" perks now and lot many drivers have moved there. So much so, that in Bhubaneswar, there are hardly any cabs left on Uber platform. If you book one, the nearest cab assigned to you is 8-15 kms away! That is again forcing the drivers to move to OLA.

Has OLA started generating more revenue due to increase in business (reasons above) and hence, more greedy?