BENGALURU: More than 85 per cent of Uber users experienced issues like drivers cancelling rides, talking on the phone while driving and surge pricing. Ninety-three per cent of Ola users complained of unclean vehicles, drivers talking on the phone and surge pricing. These were the results of a survey conducted by Local Circles, a community social media platform for citizens and small businesses to escalate issues for policy and enforcement interventions.
The survey, released on Friday, revealed that of the 3,497 Uber users surveyed, 85% had one or more issues in the last 12 months --- 69% of respondents complained of ‘drivers talking on mobile’; 54% spoke of ‘surge pricing/ too expensive’; 46% stated ‘driver cancelled ride’; 38% of respondents said, ‘vehicle not clean’; 8% marked ‘customer service not responsive’; 8% complained that ‘driver not courteous’; 8% said they had “safety concerns with the driver” and 31% indicated ‘other issues’ not mentioned. However, 15% of respondents stated that they had no issues, it revealed.
Of the 3,503 Ola taxi users, 78% users reported ‘surge pricing / too expensive’; 69% stated ‘driver talking on mobile’; 69% pointed to ‘vehicle not clean’; 62% stated ‘driver cancelled ride’; 54% said ‘driver not courteous’; 47% stated ‘customer service not responsive’ and 23% had ‘safety concern with the driver’. In addition, 16% of the respondents did not give a clear answer. However, 7% stated that they had no grievance.
Similarly, of the 3,899 BluSmart users surveyed, 61% experienced one or more issues in the last 12 months. However, BluSmart users appreciated that the drivers do not cancel rides, cabs are clean and that no surge pricing is levied, the survey said.
The survey received over 10,000 responses from residents of Bengaluru -- 59% of them men and 41% women. The survey was conducted via the LocalCircles platform and all participants had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in the survey.
As new services like Rapido, Indrive, and Namma Yatri expand taxi services in Bengaluru, there is clearly an opportunity to become a market leader by learning from the pros and cons of each one of these top 3 players, the survey said.