Saturday, January 14, 2017

Uber/Ola value proposition fast eroding

Over the last year, both Ola and Uber have began to increase prices and/or make consumer experience worse for those. Some observations are below. At this rate, both often charge for share bookings the same tariff as black/yellow auto and taxi, while not being much faster. Also, this is without offering a clear differentiation like passenger insurance, impartial dispute redressal etc. Guess this is the start of the end



Offer/Feature
When Introduced
Now
Fare calculation
Transparent distance and time
‘Upfront fares’
Surge pricing display
‘x’ surge’ displayed transparently
Inferred from the upfront fares multiple-you need to calculate
Ride time fare
Rs 1/km
Rs 1.5/km
Pool/Share rides
Usually 50% of Uber Go/Ola Micro
Even 70%-100% of the fares
Pool/Share rides routing
Detours usually not much
Sometimes 30min detour to worsen the experience
Pool/Share rides
End-End
‘Express’ rides where you hop on/hop off routes like highway-now its like hailing cabs
Short distance rides
Perception that where regular cabs refuse/Ola uber will agree
With high min fares >=Rs 60, Uber/Ola will be costlier anyways
Payment via Wallets
Usually useful to avoid cash payments
Wallets like PAYTM side with Uber/Ola, so its better to use credit cards only