Uber & Ola: the upswing in rates begins?

[kaiserketkar]

For past months/ years, Uber and Ola have been pitted in a battle of attrition for market dominance, that saw the rates of catching a cab go down as low as INR 6 per kilometer, and INR 3 per kilometer in case of a shared cab.

A recent mail I received from Uber may indicate that the honeymoon period may well be over as cost rationalization starts.
The problem as I understand it is the resistance of their driver partners to take on longer rides because
a] it fetches them lesser money that 2 shorter rides in the same time [thanks to the INR 35 base fare]
b] the hassle of coming back to their operational zone and,
c] the loss of bonus/ incentive that Uber offers to complete a certain number of rides in a day. This has led to them refusing long rides and as a result a lot of bitterness with customers.

The price hike is to compensate the drivers for this loss and is quite substantial. In Pune, for the first 15 kms, the per km charge is INR6, and after 15 kms, it jumps 250% to INR 15! Uber in their blog absurdly describes it as "a marginal change in pricing for longer distance trips"
Fortunately all other charges stay the same, and this price hike hasn't affected the UberX and the Uber SUV segments.
Here is the fare chart for the newly implemented fares.

With Uber having upped the rates for long distance fares, can Ola be far behind? Is this the end of the dream rates for cabs that made them cheaper than rickshaws? In a city like Pune, where most of the distances are maximum around 15-20 kms, it will not make too much of a difference, but for a city like Mumbai or Bengaluru or Delhi, a lot more rides will be affected by the price hike. For now, it is limited those who travel long distances in cabs, but the other segments will also inevitably get affected in due course of time. The only question is how long will it take!

[kaiserketkar]

With Uber having upped the rates for long distance fares, can Ola be far behind?

A little digging revealed that Ola has already raised long distance rates for trips beyond 20km to INR 12 per kilometer. This happened way back in August this year. While Uber has sent out a mail to all their riders, Ola seems to have done it on the down and low [I found just one article in the Hindu about the Ola hike]. Like Uber these rates apply only to Ola Micro, Ola's cheapest offering, while the other options of Mini, Prime and Lux are unaffected by this.

These figures make Ola considerably better than Uber especially in the 15-20km trip range. And for a longer trip of say 25km, the price difference between the two will be around INR 60.

[JOY_MRC]

Speaking of Uber, They are under the spotlights again as they are all set to take Mumbai cab experience to a whole new level. They have partnered with German car maker, wait for it... 'Porsche' to offer their premium cars to Uber-Mumbai users tomorrow, October 16 2016.

Uber users can select Porsche rides from the 'Supercar' option in the app. Porsche Center, Mumbai is currently hosting an event called the Gentleman's Edition and selected riders will get a chance to experience the Porsche 'Boxster' at this Gentlemen's Edition event.

A selected few also get to win what Uber calls 'Swag baskets'. The most breathtaking part about the entire theme is that the 'User's don't have to pay a dime for this 'Supercar' ride. To avail the offer, app users can book a ride between 2 - 4 pm tomorrow(October 16) and select request for a 'Supercar' from the app menu. Once a user successfully books a ride, a Porsche car will come and take them to the Porsche Centre Mumbai. time window between 2-4 pm makes clear that the supply of cars will be limited.

Previously, Uber had done similar offer to impress its customers of Bangalore back in May 2016. But it was based on premium bikes from rental company 'Wicked Ride'.