41–50 of 89 posts
It’s unions pushing to force drivers to be employees, not drivers.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is not OK to fleece anyone 'because they are tourists'. EDIT: Removed rant
Please show me the tourist who had a problem paying $10 for a ride across town. It’s a rounding error for people used to paying 2-3x that rate normally. I have probably taken rickshaws as much as you have but I don’t share your contempt for them. They’re doing a difficult job and they’re charging very little for it. You complain so much about their attitude but do you complain about the customer who refuses to pay mo…
If a potential visitor accurately hears that taxi drivers in Country X will double or triple their prices for foreigners, and they're used to paying $60 for a taxi to the airport, a portion of them will infer they might be charged $180.
How many of those do you suppose will visit at all, and if they do how many do you think will take taxis?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's called the "I never bothered to learn the actual fare from a local friend" tax. I don't agree with it, but it's pretty trivial to get around. It's definitely not exclusive to Indians. “taking advantage of foreigners is ok because they have the money” is not something most people believe. There is a large population that lives below the poverty line and will overcharge anyone who can and will take it. Yes, we hav…
I studied at an IIT in India for quite some time (loved the institution and the student body). I’ve seen more than most people I guess (from Ladakh to Mumbai to Varanasi). In places without tourists people were generally honest. The street vendor living off a few rupees each day for bananas would not take a rupee too much. I wish I could believe the “the dumb tourist tax is helping the needy and poor” - but it only f…
If you do the math in India, the drivers were basically not earning any money last year. They spend about 30% of their income of debt. Another 30-40% on fuel and maintenance cost. Then 20% charged by Ola and Uber. There’s other miscellaneous fees that creep up plus insurance every year which atleast takes another 10%. So they take home around 10%. That 10% has to pay for food, rent, children’s education, etc. The arg…
For those who say drivers can just quit, try quitting your job when you are an unskilled labourer from a low income background without any significant savings, burdened with loans, you are the only income earner in your family of 4-5 and you have to cover food, rent, kid's education etc.
Please, have some empathy.
If you do the math in India, the drivers were basically not earning any money last year. They spend about 30% of their income of debt. Another 30-40% on fuel and maintenance cost. Then 20% charged by Ola and Uber. There’s other miscellaneous fees that creep up plus insurance every year which atleast takes another 10%. So they take home around 10%. That 10% has to pay for food, rent, children’s education, etc. The arg…
Adding more anecdotes about the insanity, papers a few years ago were rife with stories about Engineers quitting their jobs and turning into cab drivers overnight and making more money as a result! All this when OlUber fares were essentially costing the same as an Autorickshaw! It's little wonder that all the magic didn't last; one also wonders how much of this slowing down led to the current lack of demand in the Automotive sector. Most taxis here appear to be Suzuki Swifts, and Maruti-Suzuki has seen a big slow down as of late (but so have VW and other "premium" brands).
The result of all this madness is that a large fraction of egregious cars that ply on roads in Bluru are taxis, which as a bicycle commuter, has become a nightmare to me personally due to their collective recklessness. Then again, they have helped tackle the annoyances from the lack of service and "extra" charges of the Auto unions and the insanely crowded public transport systems.
If you do the math in India, the drivers were basically not earning any money last year. They spend about 30% of their income of debt. Another 30-40% on fuel and maintenance cost. Then 20% charged by Ola and Uber. There’s other miscellaneous fees that creep up plus insurance every year which atleast takes another 10%. So they take home around 10%. That 10% has to pay for food, rent, children’s education, etc. The arg…
Unfortunate truth. For those who say drivers can just quit, try quitting your job when you are an unskilled labourer from a low income background without any significant savings, burdened with loans, you are the only income earner in your family of 4-5 and you have to cover food, rent, kid's education etc. Please, have some empathy.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If this were true, drives would quit en-mass. This is entirely an at-will engagement, any party can back out at any time if things don't work out
It is not easy for drivers to quit given the debt that they've taken on. It is tougher to operate as an independent taxi driver than to be on a platform. Many of the drivers I have spoken to have migrated from smaller cities and I doubt it would be easy for them to operate independently.
The truth is that cab drivers are making a livelihood, in fact a much better livelihood than they were making without Uber and Ola.
This is a welcome move. For short, small-value rides like with auto-rickshaws, Uber and Ola's commission can be close to 100% or even more. You can travel (slightly) cheaper by negotiating with the famously fleecing rickshaw drivers themselves.
> famously fleecing Fleecing who? Natives would never pay more than a dollar or two for a short ride, and never more than 10-20% more than the “fair” value. It’s even better in places like Mumbai, where everyone uses a standard meter. Tourists would pay 10x but in my experience they don’t even notice or care they’re getting fleeced because $10 for a short (5-6km) trip is a reasonable price to them.
Please. Autowallahs have their own versions of "surge pricing", which is even more frustrating and non-transparent. Night time ? Triple rate. Going to a residential area ? Double rate, because the vehicle need to return empty.
I have talked to multiple Uber/Ola drivers. Sure the economics aren't as good now. But they are still better than alternatives. That's the sad truth. Unless people can get them better jobs, Uber/Ola will have to do.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is a pretty arrogant and very Indian thing to say. 1) It’s not tourists or foreigners taking advantage of other Indians - it is Indians. Indian people disrespect and mistreat each other to an extend I have never seen anywhere else in the world. 2) It is not tourists who set the prices for taxi meters - it’s the Indian cities or governments; yet it is Indian cab drivers who often believe they stand above the Law…
It's called the "I never bothered to learn the actual fare from a local friend" tax. I don't agree with it, but it's pretty trivial to get around. It's definitely not exclusive to Indians. “taking advantage of foreigners is ok because they have the money” is not something most people believe. There is a large population that lives below the poverty line and will overcharge anyone who can and will take it. Yes, we hav…
Well, governments deem progressive taxation to be fair, and is hailed by economists and general populace all around the world, so perhaps faulting people for doing the same is not quite fair in the large scheme of things.
However, it's just annoying, non-transparent and extremely frustrating.