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Uber’s New Rival in Australia: An Indian Upstart

nytimes.com

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Re: Uber’s New Rival in Australia: An Indian Upstart

#51

Post by jpatokal »

siquick wrote: post #41

(Sydney resident) Taxify launched here in December with 50% off rides, people jumped on board and ditched Uber. 50% rides ended - everyone went back to Uber, including myself. Can't seen this ending any differently unless Ola is significantly cheaper. ____ Just tried to sign up for Ola and they couldn't even send me the verification text to sign up with.

Counter-anecdote: when Taxify started up, it was impossible to hail them where I lived in the Inner West. But I grabbed on yesterday on the way to the airport, it was at my house in 2 minutes, and the driver told me he now drives for Taxify exclusively -- it's still a bit cheaper for riders and the drivers make more. All that said, when Uber surges hard, finding a Taxify car is impossible since most drivers use both.

Anyway, I've signed up for Ola and just got coupons for three free rides up to $25. The more competition and the larger the bonfires of VC money, the merrier!

Re: Uber’s New Rival in Australia: An Indian Upstart

#52

Post by jpatokal »

jamez1 wrote: post #46

Some stats: Taxify has had 130k downloads in the last 4 months. Ola is at 24k for about 1 month. Far cry from Uber which does that in almost 2 days

Those are worldwide stats, no? That's not going to tell you much about Australian ride sharing.

Re: Uber’s New Rival in Australia: An Indian Upstart

#53

Post by hydrox24 »

HumanDrivenDev wrote: post #7
tgasson wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They'll struggle to get anywhere asking for cash. Australians generally carry little to no cash around

Really? As someone who has spent a long time in New Zealand it was striking to me how many places you needed cash for in Australia. EFTPOS is not ubiquitous there like it is here.

It depends on when you were in Australia. EFTPOS fees for small amounts were essentially outlawed a year or so ago. That has made a big difference to pushing the final hold-out businesses into cashless in the last few months.

Re: Uber’s New Rival in Australia: An Indian Upstart

#54

Post by jpatokal »

Andrenid wrote: post #25
LouisSayers wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Melbourne there are so many cash only food places that you do need to carry cash - or at least know where the nearest atm is.

I absolutely love exploring all the food and coffee around Melbourne and I can't even remember the last one that didn't take PayPass. Even the market stalls and coffee carts have an MPOS or CBA tablet. Maybe a couple of super hipster places take cash only for the image, but I haven't actually found one yet.

In my experience it's rather the anti-hipster places: cheap Chinese dumplings, Vietnamese noodles etc, typically family run with minimal decor, overhead, wages, cleanliness and tax payments (much easier to underreport cash-only earnings). But often great food if you pick a busy place!

Re: Uber’s New Rival in Australia: An Indian Upstart

#55

Post by si1verbu11et »

thelittleone wrote: post #3

In case, like me, you're unfamiliar with the term "Upstart" in this context. I found a few vague definitions that boil down to: Startups are entrepreneurial businesses that start with external funding. Upstarts are businesses that start without significant external funding.

ola is swimming in vc money, esp from softbank

Re: Uber’s New Rival in Australia: An Indian Upstart

#56

Post by harshbutfair »

maxxxxx wrote: post #14
thelittleone wrote: post #3

In case, like me, you're unfamiliar with the term "Upstart" in this context. I found a few vague definitions that boil down to: Startups are entrepreneurial businesses that start with external funding. Upstarts are businesses that start without significant external funding.

Doesn't "upstart" have a slightly negative connotation?

I think it's negative, and describing them as "an Indian Upstart" sounds a bit racist to me.

Oxford dictionary definition #1: (derogatory) A person who has risen suddenly in rank or importance, especially one who behaves arrogantly.

Re: Uber’s New Rival in Australia: An Indian Upstart

#57

Post by Brajeshwar »

what_ever wrote: post #35
clay_to_n wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In India, Ola also seems to have nicer car models than Uber, at least at the cheapest price point without sharing your ride with a stranger. Coupled with the wi-fi and the entertainment system (to put on whatever of the limited Apple Music set you choose) made most of my friends in Bangalore prefer it.

Ola also always more expensive than Uber when I was in India for a few weeks. And another anecdotal feedback is all of my friends felt Uber had better crop of drivers and service than Ola.

Personally, I agree with this. Never had a good experience with Ola (tried few times). Been riding with Uber since its introduction in India, starting with the very limited/costly option and now the most optimal "Premier". Never used sharing, so no experience with that.

I usually talk to the drivers; they tend to drive for both Ola and Uber. Most of them seem to have a better earning with Uber.

One of the key thing limiting me even trying Ola is that they have their own in-house Payment/Wallet system and no integration with a more common one such as PayTM. With Uber, I can PayTM as my default and do not worry about Credit Card PIN -- just ride, thank the driver and walk out.

Nonetheless, I would still wish Ola the very best. We need more competition and even better services from all providers.

Re: Uber’s New Rival in Australia: An Indian Upstart

#58

Post by Brajeshwar »

manojlds wrote: post #48
what_ever wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ola also always more expensive than Uber when I was in India for a few weeks. And another anecdotal feedback is all of my friends felt Uber had better crop of drivers and service than Ola.

I am the grand parent poster - have stopped using Ola as Uber drivers are more predictable. Also they have weird KYC requirements and wanted to send physical documents for Ola Money, blocking my money without that.

And that one. I did my PayTM KYC long before Aadhaar became the silver bullet. PayTM have the ₹10,000 limit per month without the KYC and my Uber bill usually got exhausted by the middle of the month. Heck, I can use the same PayTM balance to eat corn on the streets.

Re: Uber’s New Rival in Australia: An Indian Upstart

#59

Post by nitins »

clay_to_n wrote: post #15
manojlds wrote: post #5

Ola has been a pretty interesting company. They have tried a lot of things like integrating auto ricks into their network (which Uber has copied now), including Wifi, on board entertainment, pool pass, membership rates etc. They even had boat service when Chennai (my city) was flooded. I wish them good luck!

In India, Ola also seems to have nicer car models than Uber, at least at the cheapest price point without sharing your ride with a stranger. Coupled with the wi-fi and the entertainment system (to put on whatever of the limited Apple Music set you choose) made most of my friends in Bangalore prefer it.

I have usually found Uber to be cheaper in Bangalore. Also in my experience, I find car/drivers better for Uber compared to Ola. I have never tried the wifi or entertainment systems.

Re: Uber’s New Rival in Australia: An Indian Upstart

#60

Post by finebalance »

In the Indian market, Ola does a few things better than Uber. For example, they have an OTP, which is a 4-digit numerical code you need to provide to the driver at the start of every ride. In a low-trust market like India, this is instrumental in helping certain people pre-pay for this sort of service. Secondly, they've long had more options than Uber in types of service they provide: ie, rickshaw, car rentals, etc. And finally, they've also recently introduced ola credit, which is really convenient for me as I take short, low-cost rides to and fro work, and credit is sufficient to allow me to pay at one go at the end of the week.

There is a perception that Ola has a lower quality of drivers in the Indian market, but I doubt such a thing would be replicated in Australia. That said, I've gotten quite a few stinkers from both services, so I'm sure that the bias in Indian middle/upper-middle classes against native companies plays strongly into the perception of Ola drivers as worse than Uber.

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