CAN UBER NAVIGATE THE BUMPY ROAD AHEAD?

The ride hailing firm once again leads the cab segment in India but regulatory hurdles, new entrants pose challenges

- Sumant Banerji

New Delhi: In the sweltering heat of July, Prabhjeet Singh, a man normally used to spending his days in a plush office, was struggling to navigate the byzantine lanes of Shiv Durga Vihar, Faridabad. The president of Uber India and South Asia wanted to experience the business end of things and had turned taxi driver for the day. Singh, now in his ninth year at Uber, goes on such fact-finding trips every month to get to grips with the ground realities his driver-partners face and the expectations their passengers have.

On this occasion, the middle-aged lady who had booked his cab wanted to be picked up right outside her door, in a narrow alley. Somehow Singh managed to get to her through the maze of alleys but the delay had made her irate.

“I got a reality check—I got a 1-star rating for factors beyond my control and lost my coveted 5-star rating average that day," he rued during an interaction with Mint in his Bengaluru office.

On another trip, the rider cancelled his booking at the last moment as he had gotten a cab from a rival app. “That was my second lesson that day on ‘opportunity cost’. This rider habitually hailed cars from multiple apps and then cancels whichever takes longer. That is terrible economics for us as both cars have spent time and fuel driving towards him," Singh said.

The company now informs drivers of the destination beforehand and compensates them for the distance travelled to pick up the customer prior to the trip. At the same time, it has beefed up its feedback mechanism for customers, making it more interactive, safer and transparent. Anecdotally, service standards have improved and over a dozen riders and drivers that Mint spoke to in Delhi and Bengaluru said they preferred Uber over other players. “We have given the drivers a seat at the table. That has been key," said Singh.