I recently heard some positive reviews about Uber the fast expanding taxi rental service. They have operations in Mumbai and I wished to try them out. But my workplace is a short distance from residence, hence did not have an opportunity to do so.
Last evening there was a social gathering I was invited to and here had an opportunity to try it. Downloaded the Uber app on my android device(6.5 MB, quick download), created an account. You have to have a credit card for creating an account as details(card no., expiry date, CVV) are to be entered at the time of account creation.
The app is super smooth and instantly started showing a few cabs available in the vicinity. They have two classes – UberX where you get low end cars like Swift desire, Etios, Indigo etc and UberBlack where you get Corolla Altis, Innova, Aria, Fortuner, Mercedes C class, BMW 3 series, Audi A4 etc.
At the time of booking UberX was not available so I chose Black and placed my request. Within half a minute the screen started flashing drivers name, car no., type of vehicle(it was Corolla Altis for me) as well as the current location of the vehicle. It took the driver named Bright 15 mins to reach my building. He called me saying he is waiting for me in the parking. You can also track the real time location of the vehicle on your app.
I would like to specially highlight here that Bright was courteous and nice. I boarded the clean vehicle. It was an automatic and very comfortable. Journey started and Bright took the shortest possible route, when he had the option of taking a longer one – he earns other star.
Uber bills you under three heads –
Base Fare – Rs 100 for black, 50 for Uber X
Distance – Rs. 17/km for black, 15/km for Uber X
Time – Rs 2/min for Black and Rs. 1/min for UberX
The total of these three will form part of your total bill. The amount is automatically charged to your card. My journey from Mahim to Marine Lines cost me 429 bucks. For the return journey too, I used UberBlack and cab arrived to pick me up in ten mins. The driver Mangaldeep Pandey was not so ‘bright’ unfortunately. The vehicle was a Tata Aria, not something I would associate with luxury. It was a bumpy ride, partly attributable to the vehicle and partly to the driver who had a jerky style of driving and hard braking. A start contrast to the Corolla Altis which I had used a couple of hours earlier. The return journey cost me 380 bucks. Difference in fare was due to the reduced journey time.
Overall impressions: Customers will pay a premium(twice the fare of a black& yellow cab, 1.5 times a meru) as long as they get premium cars. Uber is strictly not value for money for vanilla cars. Cars are clean and drivers courteous. You don’t have to tell the driver where to come since the drivers themselves have apple 4S phones which they use to track your real time location. No money being exchanged at the end of the journey is a big relief and adds to the convenience. You cannot choose a vehicle – this is a big let-down. This is to be looked into by Uber team or create a special category for SUVs with a differential pricing. There is no use of an Innova or Aria for use in a city. In my experience this service is cost effective if you use at night so that the ‘hire time’ is less. You can also share this cab with others and split the fare.