CHENNAI: If Ola has taught anything to its contemporaries in the cab and auto industry, it is this - No money, no honey friends! And NTL, at least, seems to have learned its lessons well. How does `5000 a month, over and above your fares, sound to you?
That is exactly what NTL, which announced its re-entry into the auto sector early this month, is offering drivers. All to revive its dormant auto business and entice drivers into its fold.
NTL had tried to bring the chaotic Chennai auto segment into its fold earlier than Ola, foraying into the market in October 17, 2012. But disinterest from drivers, who found charging by the meter largely unappealing, saw its initial attempt go bust.
“We hadn’t marketed it as well as we could have. That was our mistake,” pointed out Sri Balaji, vice president, NTL Call Taxi Ltd.
But that is a mistake the company is no longer willing to make. According to Balaji, NTL already has 1000+ autos attached to its service and is targeting a 2-month total of 5000 - all on the back of offers reminiscent of what Ola offered during its entry.
“The model by which we want to take this forward is very similar to our competitors. We are offering `20 extra to drivers per ride. And if they are logged on ten hours a day for 28 days a month, they will get `5000,” said Balaji. “We are cautious about these incentives though. We can’t flex financial muscle like some of our competitors,” he added.
Ola offered a very similar deal to its drivers in December, 2014 - `200 for every continuous twelve hours of log in time and `30 extra per ride. Ola has currently discontinued a lot of these incentives, making them performance based.
The question of whether NTL will be able to replicate Ola’s success though, lies on a host of other factors. For example, Ola’s application-based service was nearly flawless when it entered the market. “NTL’s app just isn’t as good. And finding autos is almost impossible on it,” said S Ramya, who uses both Ola and NTL apps for travelling.
The more important factor is whether drivers believe NTL can deliver enough rides.
“I don’t know whether they can give me as much rides. But I’ve attached myself to check them out. Even they have told me I shouldn’t expect many rides for the first three months,” said L Arumugam, auto driver.