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The Delhi Transport Authority (DTA) has discovered loopholes in the applications submitted by <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword>, <keyword id="1006428" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Olacabs">OlaCabs</keyword>, <keyword id="1428790" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="TaxiforSure">TaxiForSure</keyword> and NTL Call Cabs for licences to operate in Delhi. The transport department had sent ‘deficiency memos’ to these operators on January 24. 
 According to a media report, TaxiForSure, which had applied through its subsidiary Serendipity <keyword id="2704273" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infolabs">Infolabs</keyword>, has the highest number of gaps in its application. On the other hand, OlaCabs had just a single gap. 
 
Media reports further suggest that Uber has not got the company registered. Some of the other things lacking in its application are an undertaking for parking, telephone number, email address and the address proof of its registered office. 
 
Uber says that it should come under the Information Technology Act as it is a technology-based platform and not a taxi company. 
Aprameya Radhakrishna, co-founder and director, TaxiForSure, said, “We are working on the clarifications sought by them and we are in the process to submit the same.” 
 
“We are confident that the government and the authorities will agree that our business model is unique and will be open to include regulations that are best suited for the new-age business model,” he added.

Transport Authority Discovers loopholes In Applications Of Uber, Ola, TaxiForSure

Some of the Indian startups such as <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> and <keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> have already made their mark in the industry in terms of gross revenue earnings. Now, cab aggregator <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> will soon be joining the league. The online cab aggregator might earn gross revenue of $1 billion (Rs 6,364 crore) by the next quarter. 
 The Bengaluru-based company is expanding rapidly to smaller towns and cities after it has acquired rival <keyword id="1428790" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="TaxiforSure">TaxiForSure</keyword> in March. It aims to provide 5 lakh trips every day in the next three months to reach the $1 billion revenue target, three company executives told the Economic Times. 
 
This will make it only the third Indian startup after e-Commerce companies Flipkart and Snapdeal to have crossed the coveted milestone. 
 "$1 billion run rate looks achievable in the next quarter," said one of the senior executives. According to one of the persons quoted above, Ola, which raised $400 million (Rs 4,456 crore) last month led by Russian billionaire <keyword id="303107" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Yuri-Milner">Yuri Milner</keyword>'s <keyword id="794823" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="DST-Global">DST Global</keyword> and is preparing for another round of fund raising that could close in the next four months. 
 
"In the next 12 months it will be a $10-billion (Rs 63,640 crore) valuation company," the source said. 
 
However, a spokesman for Ola declined to comment on the latest developments. 
 
The four-year-old company was valued at $2.4 billion in its last round of funding. It has received around $700 million in funding from a slew of marquee investors. 
 
The online cab aggregator has revenue run rate of around $450-500 million. It has to maintain its rapid pace of growth, estimated at over 10% every week, even as it expands to 200 cities in the coming months. The company sources that ET spoke to said both Ola and TaxiForSure together clock up about 2.3 lakh trips per day. 
 
 Moreover, Ola's spurt in revenues is being aided by the rapid growth being registered by TaxiFor-Sure — which has doubled revenue in the two months since it was bought by Ola. Earlier this month, TaxiForSure announced that it completed 10 million rides. 
 Ola has plans to expand its base further as it is also expecting a revenue spurt from new services such as delivery of food, which it introduced earlier this year. It is also looking to tap the <keyword id="1186907" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="grocery-business">grocery business</keyword> and is training about 90 delivery boys in Bangalore to launch the service. 
 
(Image: Reuters)

Ola is doing a good job! Its gross revenue to reach $1-billion by next quarter

Across major Indian cities a silent revolution is brewing among taxi drivers who are gaining from the advent of a new breed of startups that are transforming the industry. 
 
Monthly income of several taxi drivers have at least tripled and a few with leadership skills have become entrepreneurs themselves, by managing scores of other drivers. 
 
The startups, which use technology to manage this network of drivers and link them to customers, earn a 2-5 per cent commission from the driver on every trip. Companies like Olacabs, TaxiForSure, Meru and Uber are making a dent in India's taxi-rentals market estimated at about $ 6 billion. 
 
In the process, they are changing the lives of thousands of drivers. ET takes a close look at five people who have benefited enormously from this rising trend. 
 
Khamer Gulzar B.Com first year dropout MERU CABS INCOME BEFORE: NIL 
 After having worked in Dubai as a sales executive for about 15 years, Khamer Gulzar returned to India in 2003 with some <keyword id="25450" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="savings">savings</keyword> to start a restaurant. It failed. He started a used car business with the leftover savings. 
 
Two failed ventures landed Gulzar in deep debt of Rs 15 lakh. That's when he decided to join Meru Cabs as a driver in 2009. Within four years, Gulzar has become debt free. He earns about Rs 40,000 per month, of which he saves nearly Rs 10,000. 
 
"My next goal is to buy my own house and ensure my kids have the best education," said Gulzar, a father to two school-going children. "My daughter wants to be a doctor and I can support her dream with this job," said Gulzar, who owns a Mahindra Logan cab. 
 
Bharathi Veerath School dropout UBER INCOME BEFORE: Rs 14,000 
 
Bharathi Veerath migrated from Warangal in 2005 to Bangalore with her mother and brother in search of a livelihood. A school dropout, she took to odd jobs of tailoring and working in travel agencies, before taking to driving taxis with an all women operated Angel Cabs last year. 
 Veerath was the first woman licenced <keyword id="51966" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Taxi-driver">taxi driver</keyword> in India. She earned Rs 15,000 per month till October as a driver with Angel Cabs, when she heard of India entry of USbased taxi hailing application Uber. She decided to risk and join Uber. Veerath bought a <keyword id="67915" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ford-Fiesta">Ford Fiesta</keyword>, loaned by Canara Bank on an <keyword id="6357050" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="EMI">EMI</keyword> of Rs 17,000 per month. Within five months, her income increased to Rs 45,000 per month, from her own car which she drives for Uber and other taxi fleet operators. 
 "Owning my car has given me freedom to work upon my will," said Veerath, who loves to drive for almost 12 hours a day. When not in a mood to take work, she simply switches off her <keyword id="6354606" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="iPhone">iPhone</keyword> which has the Uber app loaded on it. 
 
GG Balaji SSC dropout SAVAARI INCOME BEFORE: Rs 10,000 
 
While taking a few tourists around Coorg last year, Bangalore-based <keyword id="6371561" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cab-driver">cab driver</keyword> GG Balaji's father suffered a cardiac problem. He left the cab in Coorg and returned to Bangalore to mortgage family gold to have a bypass surgery done for his father. None of the local taxi operators came to his rescue. 
 
That's when Balaji decided to attach himself to Savaari Car Rentals, an Intel Capital-funded taxi rentals startup, as a full time driver. His monthly income has grown from Rs 10,000 per month to Rs 35,000 within six months. Over and above that, Balaji gets a diesel allowance of about Rs 20,000 per month. 
 
"It's a nice feeling to know that a fixed salary will get credited every month," said Balaji, who had earlier served in Indian Army's Corp of Artillery Air Defence till 1996 on the borders. Balaji's next goal is to buy a plot of land. "I am also buying a Tata Manza this Diwali and attaching a relative of mine who will pay me a monthly commission on it," said Balaji. 
 
Reshma Banu 12th Standard Pass OLACABS INCOME BEFORE: NIL 
 
 
Bangalore-based Reshma Banu, a housewife, morphed into a mini entrepreneur in 2006 when she started her car rental business in 2006, egged on by her husband. She bought a Tata Indica with a bank loan. With the emergence of taxi startups in Bangalore, last year, her business took off. 
 Banu signed up with Olacabs as an operator last year. Her business has now grown to a fl eet of 16 cars, which includes Innovas, Fiestas and Micras. "I bought five <keyword id="46283" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nissan">Nissan</keyword> Micra cars for use in Olacabs last month at a discount of Rs 1 lakh per car offered by the company," she said. 
 
"The drive to be an independent woman keeps me motivated," said Banu. Banu has also tied up with seven more aggregators and earns a net profit of about Rs 1 lakh a month, from Olacabs alone. "My next goal is to buy five more cars, this year," she added. 
 
Rajesh Kumar 7th Standard Pass TAXIFORSURE INCOME BEFORE: Rs 15,000 
 
Delhi-based Rajesh Kumar used to be a bus driver earning Rs 15,000 per month before he attached himself with TaxiForSure in January, last year. 
 
On a visit to Delhi, TaxiForSure chief executive Aprameya Radhakrishnan, asked Kumar, the name of a company, if he ever owned one. Kumar came out with the name 'Shabnam Cabs'. 
 
In March 2013, Shabnam Cabs was up and running in Delhi as a local taxi operator. The 43-year-old now has over 100 cab drivers under him, and earns a commission of 2 per cent per trip from each of them in addition to Rs 1,000 as monthly commission per driver. 
 
His monthly gross income has increased 10-fold to Rs 1.2 lakh, out of which he gets a profit Rs 60,000. Father of two grown up kids, Kumar plans to have his son involved in the business, after he graduates from Delhi University. 
 
"My next goal is to expand my business to Chandigarh and Jaipur," said Kumar, who was recently flown to Hyderabad by TaxiForSure to coach newly attached drivers.

How Startups Like Meru, Uber, Olacabs, TaxiForSure Have Transformed Lives Of Taxi Drivers

India’s taxi cab market has seen a phenomenal growth since last two years. And now with an aim to take on Uber, <keyword id="1006428" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Olacabs">Olacabs</keyword> is likely to acquire its competitor <keyword id="1428790" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="TaxiforSure">TaxiForSure</keyword> for about Rs 1,250 crore, as per a media report. 
 The Economic Times has reported that Olacabs, which has the backing of Japan's <keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Softbank">SoftBank</keyword>, will pay cash and offer stocks for the acquisition. "The term sheet has been signed and in the next 10 days the finer details will be chalked out," according to a source quoted by the newspaper. 
 
"The transport aggregation business is a fairly tricky space right now, given the regulatory scrutiny," said Srikanth Narasimhan, director at boutique investment bank Veda Corporate Advisors. But he also added that “this is a passing phase.” 
 
Even internationally, taxi aggregators are in talks to form an alliance against Uber. 
 
“This acquisition marks a significant development in the taxi app business in India. This will be problematic for Uber because it does not have any offline presence and no stated plans of being in that space," said Sunil Wattal, who teaches management information systems at Temple University in the United States, told the leading news daily. 
 
In October 2014, Olacabs had received investments worth $210 million in a round of funding led by Japan’s SoftBank.

Battle Among Cab Providers Hots Up: Olacabs To Acquire TaxiForSure

<keyword id="19483" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="IIM-ahmedabad">IIM Ahmedabad</keyword> just raised Rs 7.5 crore from alumni Raghunandan G, <keyword id="186752" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vishwavir-Ahuja">Vishwavir Ahuja</keyword> and Aprameya. While conservation, restoration and upgrade of the classrooms in the Heritage Campus is being supported by RBL Bank (Vishwavir Ahuja is the MD &amp; CEO of RBL bank), CR2 upgradation to state-of-art facility and maintenance at IMDC in the <keyword id="4731025" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="iim-a-new-campus">IIM-A New Campus</keyword> is being supported by co-founders of TaxiForSure — Raghunandan G and Aprameya R (PGP 2007 and 2008) — with funding of Rs 2.5 crore each. “RBL has significantly benefited from the quality education imparted at IIMA through several IIMA Alumni in the senior management team. RBL has always focused on excellence in the banking industry and is delighted to make a contribution of Rs 2.5 Crore for shared vision to support education excellence at IIM-A,” said Vishwavir Ahuja. Meanwhile, IIM-A director Prof Ashish Nanda said - “Alumni are a source of strength for the institute. They contribute in many different ways to support the Institute’s priorities. IIM-A deeply values their meaningful and significant contributions.” “Contributing to IIM-A is a proud moment for us as we owe so much of our success to this institute. Having graduated from this great institute, opened doors for us through our entrepreneurial journey. We could connect with IIMA alumni in the startup eco system who were strong guides during our TaxiForSure story and in fact, were our source of strength and also the worst critics to ensure that we always did the right thing,” said Raghunandan G and Aprameya R.

IIM Ahmedabad just raised Rs 7.5 crore from alumni

It’s good news for the aam aadmi. Internet service providers (ISPs) have written to Department of Telecom (DoT) that they will not be able to block the websites of these cab providers. The DoT on May 12, had asked ISPs to block the websites of these app-based taxi operators such as <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> and <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword> following a request by the Delhi government. 
	 According to an ET report, Rajesh Chharia, the president of <keyword id="128627" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Internet-Service-Providers-Association-of-India">Internet Service Providers Association of India</keyword> said that ISPs can only block http sites and not https sites. “https sites have higher encryption code. 
	 
	The report also quoted an ISP service provider which noted that cab companies such as Ola and Uber could not be blocked as they were https sites while TaxiforSure could be as it was a http site. 
	 
	"We can only block http sites and not the https sites as the latter have higher encryption codes," Rajesh Chharia, the president of the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) said. According to an ISP service provider, Uber and Ola are https sites, but TaxiForSure could be blocked as it is an http site. 
	 
	In a separate development, the Road Transport ministry on Thursday said that these cab companies will be regulated by states under the Motor Vehicles Act. The directive came following a telecom department query that sought clarity regarding the regulation of the internet-based cab operators. According to the report by ET, there has been confusion as it was not clear if these taxi providers are regulated by the Information technology Act or the Motor Vehicles Act. 
	 
	The road ministry will now send a formal communication to direct all states to regulate apps of these cabs on Friday. 
	 
	Image Credit: Indiatimes.com

DoT orders not followed? Know why Ola, Uber websites cannot be blocked

After getting its hands on a whopping $400 million deal in April this year, now online cab service provider, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Ola">Ola</a>, is all set to get another huge sum of Rs 3,150 crore ($500 million). 
 
As reported by Economic Times, officials who were directly aware of the development informed that the deal might add to the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/On-Demand-Car-Service-Uber-May-Be-Raising-At-A-Massive-3-Billion-Valuation-Or-Higher/articleshow/21347585.cms">valuation </a>of the company. The current valuation of <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> is $2.5 billion which might go up to $4.5 billion. 
 
The official, on condition of anonymity, informed ET, "The deal could be finalized in about 2-3 weeks." "As <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Uber+">Uber </a>gets more aggressive in India, Ola will need to burn more cash to maintain its market leadership position," another source further added. 
 
An Ola executive said that the firm is targeting to raise $550 million at a post-money valuation of $5 billion. Reports of bringing new investors onboard have also been heard. 
 The Bengaluru based firm, however, denied making any comments on the matter. Ola, which is a <keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Softbank">SoftBank</keyword> backed company have investors including Russian billionaire <keyword id="303107" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yuri-Milner">Yuri Milner</keyword>'s DST Global, Singapore's GIC and New York based hedge fund Falcon Edge and also Tiger Global, Steadview Capital and <keyword id="144381" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Accel-Partners">Accel Partners</keyword> are major investors. 
 
Ola, so far, has raised around $676 million in six funding rounds from over a dozen investors. 
 
"The company needs cash to invest further in new businesses as well as continued discounting (for customers)," informed a source. 
With acquiring another taxi-service provider <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=TaxiForSure+">TaxiForSure </a>earlier this year, Ola, currently, is present in around 10o Indian cities. 
 
One of Ola’s biggest rivals, San Francisco-based Uber, which is valued at an estimated $50 billion, has grown swiftly in India since its launch in Bengaluru in 2013. It is now present across 20 cities. 
 
The company is currently working on several new initiatives, including carpooling, on-demand food and grocery deliveries, on-demand bus aggregation and logistics. 
 Ola's spurt in revenues has been aided by the $200-million acquisition of rival <keyword id="1428790" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="TaxiforSure">TaxiForSure</keyword>, whose revenues have doubled since the deal closed in March this year. But Ola still accounts for over 80% of the revenue of the combined entity. Ola currently gets over 80% of its bookings through its mobile application. 
 
Image: indiatimes

Ola to raise 3,150 crore to double valuation, in talks with investors

BANGALORE: The fight to win over the Indian taxi passenger has intensified with aggregator Olacabs and cab hailing app Uber slashing prices by a fourth in Delhi—a development that is likely to force rivals to follow suit. 
 
While Ola has cut rates in its lowerend car business—Ola mini—to Rs 10 /km, Uber has cut prices for its premium segment Uber BLACK. Separately, the San Francisco-based taxi hailing app also announced that it will be launching its affordable ride service UberX in three more Indian cities: Mumbai, Chennai and Pune. “We are pushing our efficiency system to the maximum,” said Shailesh Sawlani, general manager of Uber in Mumbai. "We see this as a daily commute option for our riders and plan to maintain these prices if customers ride with us as much as we anticipate." 
 UberX Mumbai fares are Rs 15/km with a minimum base fare of Rs 50 and total minimum fare of Rs 125. The latest moves come after Uber cut its prices in Bangalore by 25% last month. Ola also reduced fares to Rs10/km for its <keyword id="2210965" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ola-Mini">Ola Mini</keyword> service in the Garden City. “We have been able to optimise our inventory,” said Pranay Jivrajka, vice president of operations at Olacabs. 
 
According to industry estimates, taxi companies are struggling to keep pace with the rising demand and on average cannot accommodate a fifth of the bookings. To address this problem Ola said it will increase the number of cabs available on its mobile app by about 35% to 3,200 in Delhi alone. Ola’s total fleet size is about 15,000. 
 
“These price cuts are just a starting point to acquire customers and establishing the brand image till the time you hit a critical mass,” said Arvind Singhal, chairman of Technopak. “At Rs 10/km Ola is making losses on each Ola Mini ride,” said a source directly familiar with the matter. Same is the case with Uber, according to another source. Uber’s price drop in Bangalore is, however, for a limited duration. 
 The company has not specified the timeframe. Other competitors like TaxiFor-Sure are focussing on discount codes to expand the customer base instead of cutting prices. “We keep doing event-related promotions and offer discount vouchers from time to time,” said Aprameya Radhakrishna, founder and chief executive of <keyword id="1428790" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="TaxiforSure">TaxiForSure</keyword>. 
 
“Till the time, taxi aggregators will not face pressure to turn profitable, the freebies will continue,” said Jaspal Singh, cofounder of Valoriser Consultants, which provides market research services for transportation companies. “These companies are looking to build valuation by expanding geographic reach, recruiting more number of drivers and attracting bookings to increase revenue.” 
 However other aggregators like <keyword id="108722" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Meru-Cabs">Meru Cabs</keyword> and Savaari cabs feel that price cuts is not sustainable long-term. “Meru does not believe in price wars,” said Siddhartha Pahwa, CEO of MERU Cabs. “Consumers will not take a cab because it’s cheap but for its reliability, safety and professional service.”

Win For Customers as Taxi Companies Like Olacabs, Uber Cut Fares In Delhi, Others May Follow

As Delhi is reeling under shortage of cabs of Ola and Uber, Bengaluru is breathing releif. After the cab aggregators assured them to listen to their plea, the protesting drivers of Ola and Uber have called off their strike. 
 
President of the Ola, TaxiForSure, Uber (OTU) Drivers and Owners Association Tanveer Pasha told The Times of India, the protest was withdrawn as cab aggregators promised to look into their grievances on Tuesday or Wednesday next. 
 
"We will decide our next course of action after the meeting," he said. 
 
Of the two drivers who consumed poison during Thursday's protest before the Ola office in Murugeshpalya, one of them, Mohan Babu, continues to be in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the KIMS Hospital. 
 
The other, Srinivas, was discharged on Thursday after being treated in the outpatient department.

Bengaluru feels relieved as Ola and
Uber drivers call off strike

<keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword> has launched its low cost <keyword id="160739" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cab-service">cab service</keyword>, <keyword id="2604816" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="UberGo">UberGo</keyword>, in India today. With comparatively affordable fare, UberGo will lock horns with <keyword id="6362049" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ola-Cabs">Ola Cabs</keyword>, TaxiForSure and other domestic cab services. The company said that the fare will be similar to that of an auto. 
 
UberGo has roped in hatchbacks like the Toyota Etios Liva, Maruti Suzuki Ritz, Tata Indica Vista and Maruti Suzuki Swift. As an introductory offer, it is giving a discount of 25%. It will charge Rs 30 as base fare and additional Rs 9 per km and 75 paise per minute. The minimum fare would be Rs 60. 
 
The company has launched this service in 10 cities: Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Kolkata.

UberGo Launches Low Cost
Cab Service In 10 Indian Cities

Hopping from one app to another, looking for a cab is an irritant and consumes a lot of time. This grumble by consumers was heard by Shalak Nail and Neha Bora, who have come up with taxi app aggregator-Loco Cabs. 
 <keyword id="3170727" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Loco-Cabs">Loco Cabs</keyword>, which was launched this year, has data of all cabs, such as <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> and <keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword>, on one single app. 
 "We started with the app showing the cabs available close by and then a few months ago we approached Uber and Ola (and <keyword id="1428790" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="TaxiforSure">TaxiForSure</keyword>) to allow us to be able to facilitate their bookings as well," Naik told ET. 
 
By aggregating all taxi apps on one, taxi aggregators are to gain only as window will open to more users. 
 
Loco Cabs works as an aggregator for small-time travel companies and cab owners making intercity and overnight trips. 
 
Loco Cabs has tied up with Paytm and CCavenue and is in talks with Meru and Mega Cabs as well. 
 
Apart from cabs, they are also planning to add bus service. 
 
"The immediate priority is India but then as the market matures, we'd like to be a platform for all your surface travel needs. When you need to travel, you should be able to get the cheapest and fastest option here," said Naik.

Now, you can book Ola, Uber from one single app! Here’s how

Very recently, I had a not-so-pleasant <keyword id="6354720" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ola">Ola</keyword> experience while travelling from Noida to Gurgaon for an official meeting. On booking a mini, a pop-up box told me my request was being upgraded to a Sedan, but I’d have to pay mini charges. I was happy. Maybe Ola was honoring me for being a dedicated user of its taxi services. Not bad at all, I thought to myself. But as I headed towards the cab, the happiness started to fade away. I saw a dust-laden Indica parked at a distance with its paint coming off from everywhere. The number plate read the same as on my Ola app. As I sat inside it, I found out that the state of the car was worse. There was a moist unpleasant smell coming from the dirty white cotton seat covers. Dried pan stains on the footmats disgusted me. Open wires dangling from the dashboard was an ugly sight. Updated to a Sedan? I thought it was worse, ridiculous than a mini! With not too much time in hand, I decided to take the ride. 
 However, such and many other problems are regularly faced by people like us who opt for <keyword id="3163199" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="taxi-booking-apps">taxi booking apps</keyword> for commuting on a regular basis. It’s a shame that in India, these companies have enough demand, but such poor services. A look at a few of such complaints will make you never want to use these cabs at all. 
 For instance, 27-year-old Shobhit, a resident of Gurgaon, booked a <keyword id="1428790" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="TaxiforSure">TaxiForSure</keyword> cab to travel to IGI airport. “It took me half an hour to explain to him where I stay because location accuracy is big issue with the app. When I sat in the cab, he told me I had cancelled the trip. I was shocked because I hadn’t. He said he couldn’t take me till I booked it again. So I had to cancel the ride only to find the app showing no cabs. I struggled for 10 minutes, but it was of no use. The driver refused to take me and I could not find any other cabs in the vicinity. I ultimately missed my flight. It’s name should be TaxiNotSure,” he says, adding that he wrote a stinker mail to the company, but never got a reply. 
 
In another encounter, Tokas Jain, who works as sales professional in GSK, was on an official Kolkata trip. “I had booked a cab in Kolkata and it never reached me. It picked up some other passenger with my booking and the same was billed to me. Fortunately, I use cash for making payments. Had there been balance in my wallet, I wonder whether they would have ever refunded the money,” he says. 
 Deepti Purohit, a journalist based out of Noida, had not even booked a cab, she had merely installed Ola on her phone. A day later, she found a bill in her mailbox that said she had taken a trip and had an unbilled amount of nearly Rs 400 to bear. Dumbfounded, she wrote a mail to the company, who later apologized to her for the mistake.<keyword id="1042120" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Uber">Uber</keyword> had one of its users Aditya Samod fuming with anger when money was debited thrice from his wallet without any reason, “I added Rs 500 by Paytm. I booked taxis thrice, but none of the drivers come. They either did not answer the call or refused to come. But every time I cancelled a ride, Uber charged me Rs 150. I wrote to them, but have only been assured assistance so far,” he says. 
 
Kaamna, a PR executive, who often uses these apps, made a significant observation: “Drivers take a longer route deliberately that results in inflated bills. I boarded a cab from Barakhamba to Gurgaon and he intentionally took a long deserted route. Despite telling him to take the shorter route, he refused. I called up TFS helpline number. They put me on hold for more than 10 minutes. I was all alone yelling at the driver and it was evening time. There was no response from customer care. Till now, I have not received even a single call from their side to know if I am safe,” she says. “And the drivers are talking on the phone all the time!,” she complains. 
 
Aakanksha Jain, a journalist, said one of these days she had booked TaxiForSure cab. “On reaching the destination, I never got the bill on my app. I asked the driver and he said it was Rs 265. I paid him. But later, I was shocked to find out that the actual bill was Rs 172,” she says. She also highlights how Ola autos are merely an addition to the Ola app, but absolutely inefficient in practice. “I got off the metro to book an auto since the app showed options just 2 minutes away. For the next ten minutes, I stood there as the app scanned the options, but none of the auto drivers accepted the booking. Finally, I had to take an auto from nearby,” she says. 
 
Personally, I felt it was bizarre when the Indica car’s shabby Ola driver said to me “please rate me 5 star, madam” with a wide grin as he dropped me off. After paying him the money, I went back to the app to give him 1 rating, and was shocked to see that he already had an overall rating of 4.5! He perhaps requests each traveler to extend the favour. Moreover, I am surprised why Ola allowed such a car to be in its list! <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=uber">Uber</a>, TaxiForSure and the likes. It’s time you do something about it! 
 
(Image credits: BCCL)

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