[fazayal]

One problem with Uber is that driver can start the ride without you. In OLA the ride can be started only after you give OTP to the driver. I faced a situation in December where Uber driver started ride without me and showed it as completed after 5 minutes or so. I booked another Uber to reach my destination. It took me more than a month to get the refund of the amount charged on the trip Uber driver started without me. That too after multiple follow ups and shaming on social media.

[Sidban85]

Stayed in Mumbai for almost 10 years and in Bangalore for last 2.

Due to regular taxis and autos in Mumbai as alternative, the cancellations used to be less in Mumbai for me. And even if they canceled, it was not hopeless and one could use the regular autos and taxis, maybe after some wait, even from a office hub like BKC in evenings, where many autos simply wanted to go to stations (sometimes shared). And in Mumbai, even if taxis or autos say no, if they are going, they will go by meter 99% of the time, even at midnight. So, there is no extra stress of haggling fares. I hope things have not changed for worse now.

Problem in Bangalore and NCR, where I had spent 2 years before Mumbai is that regular autos don't go by meter. So, there is the dual problem of refusal and haggling. Mumbai RTO also does these surprise drives where they fine autos and taxis for refusals. I have not heard about such things in Bangalore.

If the regular auto and taxi services were better in Bangalore, Uber and Ola drivers would probably have less leverage over the customers.

Also Uber had started OTP but again stopped it I believe. That was one customer friendly initiative.

For weekend plans, it may actually be easier to have a driver for 4 hours and take our own vehicle, than depend on Uber or Ola. It may turn out to be cheaper and less strenuous.

With offices opening and people coming back, things are probably going to get worse in Bangalore.

[drjaygoyal]

I have had many horrible experiences both with Uber and Ola. Many a times I had to drop my parents to the airport at 5.00 am because 2-3 drivers canceled and they were almost out of time.

I was even charged a couple of times by uber and had to rant on twitter before I was offered help by Uber support. Uber support is really non existent via the app.

Honestly I have decided it is not worth my time and the chik-chik

It has now become easier for me to call my driver and get dropped in my own car. I guess I am lucky i can do this.

I am hoping the government reins them in soon and stops this nonsense from increasing. How hard is it to pass a resolution ? But I guess our politicians are not bothered because this is not a political issue.

[nishantbhatia84]

Having driven with Uber in Mumbai for almost 2 years (during the initial days - 2015-2017), let me share my perspective:

1. How do you guys handle this?
A. Just accept this as the 'new normal' and tell them the destination. (Tip: Choose cash as payment method and the chances of getting a ride become higher)
Why do I say this? Well, at this moment the drivers are struggling hard to make ends meet. To start with, the fares are already ridiculously low, and haven't gone up in-line with the increase in fuel prices and inflation.
This was the core reason why I stopped driving with Uber. Their fares have not been sustainable for a while now, proof of which is the drastic downfall in quality/maintenance of cars and drivers.
Under such circumstances drivers have no options but to ask for the destination given a far-away drop like Virar / Panvel / Kalyan means they most likely have to return empty, which isn't feasible at all.
I would blame the aggregators for this situation and not the drivers.

2. Is Ola better?
A. Not at all. Almost all drivers are registered with both Uber and Ola and have both apps logged in.

3. Why the heck isn't Uber disciplining its drivers? Cancellations from the driver ruin the customer experience. It should impose penalties for drivers cancelling trips after accepting them.
A. They used to. When I used to drive the driver account used to get suspended if the cancellation rate used to go above 30%.
At this stage, aggregators do not have any option but to deal with this as they just do not have enough cars and drivers on their platform. Penalizing a driver means they'll just stop driving with them which the aggregators cannot afford.
I know for sure that aggregators are desperate because even though I stopped driving in mid-2017, I used to get calls from Uber till about 2020 urging me to update/activate my account and start running the car. This even though I had told them that I've already converted my car from tourist to private reg!

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by GTO

I use Uber a lot over late nights, and if I'm going to a crowded place during the day with zero parking. Of late though, it's become a menace with almost every booking being followed by a call from the driver asking "where do you want to go?" ("destination kya hai?"). I refuse to answer the question and tell them clearly that Uber / you are supposed to take me wherever I want to go in the city.

About 75% of the time, the driver cancels the booking and I'm allotted another car. That leads to a few additional minutes of wait time. On Sunday evening, I had two Uber guys cancel on me, finally getting the 3rd car.

1. How do you guys handle this?

2. Is Ola better?

3. Why the heck isn't Uber disciplining its drivers? Cancellations from the driver ruin the customer experience. It should impose penalties for drivers cancelling trips after accepting them.

I hope you know this secret. The cab drivers have both ola and uber installed on their phones. They alternate between both the apps based on surge pricing and demand. These crooks also want to slyly ask the customer for the destination so that he can choose to drop the ride for a higher fare pickup. Sometimes they switch off the apps and pick up people on the way for cash (illegal running of a taxi). It's time for the government to crack down on these criminals and ensure a transparent taxi service.

[H_Dogg72]

The taxi driver that comes to your house on call is the way to go. Uber and Ola have become an annoyance rather than a convenience due to this nonsense. From airports I have started taking the cabs available there itself. They cost more and you have to hunt for a decent vehicle but better than this headache.

[Ps_o]

Originally Posted by Piyush Kanthak

Please read full
After 2 months I had booked a cab for my mom to my sisters house which is just opposite of the wedding venue, strangely, the Uber I had booked never gave me the OTP number, the driver already knew the drop location while accepting the booking, so has Uber given this feature where drivers know in first hand as to where the destination is? Someone please shed light on this.

• Uber has stopped OTP verifications since months now.
• Yes, drivers know the destination before they accept the booking (when enquired from a cab driver he notified it is for high rating ones, not sure how true is that as his rating was 4.2 however he drove excellent and no conversation during the trip). He did mention once driver rejects/cancel they are not shown destination.
• I plan 30-40 min. ahead (this also helps in surge pricing as I have noticed Uber Ola shows surge for sometime - 5,10 min and in between you will get regular fare, just accept and proceed with booking then)
• I do tip the drivers, not substanstial just the next major denominator round off depending on change.(320 -> 350 or 358 -> 370)

One thing I have seen not so talked in this thread is when cab drivers deliberately give you(user) a very low rating. I have seen cab drivers give low rating so incase if they have misbehaved during trip they can shift blame on user and maybe get their rating changed from customer care as obviously as a user the only vote you get is to share a low rating.
Had experienced this twice when driver had really high rating however was not polite and did drive rashly (less to be said about the condition of the car), once ride got over he immediately gave 2 stars and when confronted said he had no idea what these stars meant.

Since I always pay in Cash for mostly everything there is (do not use any UPI account or QR code payment option), I make sure they show me trip end and final amount and then I request/ask them to rate user full 5 stars before or as I pay them.

[HTC]

I'm a hard core non auto user. same applies for uber or ola. I prefer my wife or friends drop and pickup me or vise versa depending on work. Technology might change, but people are same. What I have realized is that most of auto drivers moved on to ola/uber. So there you go. Initially, they had good earnings like they had never seen it before. These cab aggregator companies used the funding to kill the competition to keep drivers and customers happy by doling out unbelievable convenience at peanuts or free( my friend had so much uber points by referrals that he commuted for free for years together).

Like they say, all good things must come to end. Once the honeymoon period was over, ola/uber started reducing freebies, become more strict towards erring drivers. This led the drives to go back to their old habits. In Bengaluru, my house balcony is parallel to a wide road. Many trees giving nice shade. What started in lock down has not stopped- cab drivers park their cars, open all door, sleep in car under shade, watch umpteen movies and shows, catchup with friends at night, have booze party inside cars, discard beer bottles right out of ther cars. I wonder how they can let go of earning opportunities when metro train station is hardly 300 is mts from my place. And people are having tough time finding last mile connectvity. I hope what I have seen is a minority section of cab drivers behavior.

Many a time, I prefer to walk instead of trying to find a ride. In Mysore, I have walked 7 kms back from ford service station to home after dropping car for service. It's not that cabs are not available, but I love to walk. I make sure to carry a cap, small backpack and wear good shoe. But this might not work all the time for everyone.

Another example, with getting used to ola/uber, our reference point of fares are always between these two. Sometimes, these are 300-400% more than regular prices. Once I tried booking ola/uber auto from chitrakala parishat to nearest metro station(majestic). The cost was 80-100 rupees. But after waiting for ola/uber auto to turn up for 20 mins, I checked with a elderly person standing nearby for options. He told to take one of innumerable buses which were going towards majestic. I took the bus and it costed me 10 rupees for 2 people lolz.

Bottomline, know all other options and dont only depend on ola/uber. Many times I have come across prompt drivers who turn up without any questions and behave professionally. May be a few bad apples might be spoiling the show for ola/uber.

[RoadTrippin]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

I hope you know this secret. The cab drivers have both ola and uber installed on their phones. They alternate between both the apps based on surge pricing and demand. These crooks also want to slyly ask the customer for the destination so that he can choose to drop the ride for a higher fare pickup.

I don't understand this attitude! Do you not, as a customer, have both Uber and Ola and choose depending on which offers the better price? Do you not have Amazon and Flipkart and decide who sells for cheaper before buying? So every customer who chooses a lower priced service provider is also a crook and a criminal?

[ColAjayDrives]

Hyderabad too is getting worse in terms of both Uber and Ola.
The other day I had to book an outstation cab and I booked an Uber intercity. After the expected 4 cancelations, a smart looking cab arrived.
No sooner was the luggage loaded the driver asked me cancel the ride and pay him 90% of the displayed fare directly without Uber. He also offered to pay me the trip cancelation fare.
I had no option but to agree since I had restless elders with me (who were already fuming at these app based concepts).
5 minutes down the ride, the driver "suddenly remembered" that the cab registration had expired and so the driver called "his brother" who was "waiting on the way".
We lost 1 hour more, and the fresh cab that we got was dirty, smelly and had a weak AC and terrible pickup.
As per the deal, we were supposed to pay for all the tolls.
At the end of the journey, he calculated the toll deduction from fastag and told me that the tolls amounted to Rs 1200.
I calculated again and found it to be Rs 500.
The whole process and experience was a demonstration how a driver can swindle innocents!
Be wary everyone

[MinivanDriver]

Ola/Uber may not be providing a viable business model for folks to earn their livelihood. This is one part of the problem I believe. Another one particularly in Bangalore is the situation due to the pandemic. Many of the “good” Ola/ Uber drivers were folks from the outskirts of the city. They lost their livelihood during the pandemic and may have lost their cars (debt repossession) and / or taken up other jobs for livelihood. Since offices have not fully opened up, the previous demand is not there either. Having local contacts of trustable cabs is the only via media option in addition to public transport. Just last week, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that BMTC ac bus charges for 8 to 50 KM range have been drastically reduced due to lack of demand. I paid 35 for AC Volvo for a distance of 17KMs which was a damn good deal and half of what it used to cost earlier. As for Uber and Ola, I still believe they do not have a sustainable business model and they are bound to perish unless they find one.

[lina]

Not sure why "they have to" take us wherever we want. They are just contract workers who get paid for a trip. if it is not economically feasible or inconvenient, they should have the right to refuse.

There are more than enough places in a city like Bangalore where roads are non existent, no lights and almost no hope of getting another ride at night. The same with Mumbai. Mumbai has this huge commerical/residential separation and if a driver gets a 30km trip away from the main city and in one of the suburbs away from his home or possible future trips, he shoule be well within his right to refuse.

The economics of it also make little sense. At night, the other day, Uber was charging me just Rs.200 for a 10km trip. That is just 20 rupee per km. 5 people refused. I am more than willing to pay 300rupees for this trip at 12AM. I finally took an auto for Rs. 250.

[busydrive]

Hi GTO, this has become so common that I have stopped using Ola and Uber. From and To airport I take the airport taxi. For local runs which are planned I am calling up some of the neighborhood taxi operators. Basically going back to olden days when Ola and Uber were not there.

[Agarwaka]

As far as airport rides are concerned, atleast in Hyderabad and Bangalore, I have started using Meru exclusively. Book in advance and you're pretty sure to get a car allotted about 20 minutes before your scheduled time. Cars are spacious (Verito, Dzire) and I found my rides to be significantly cleaner than an Uber or Ola. The compromise is they only accept cash payment ( I haven't tried UPI because of intermittent network / bank issues).

[veyron_head]

The thread title says ‘New trend’ , but it’s hardly new. Been there since many years.

How do I handle it? I don’t use them as much as possible. I call driveU or similar and book a driver for a few hours, if I can’t drive. Costs just as much as Uber even if u factor in the diesel cost.

I only use Uber and Ola if am in another city where I don’t have my own car. Even to the airport, I usually drive and park my car there. Answering those morons on the phone after booking a cab is unnecessary stress that I would rather avoid.