#OlabeatsUber has been trending on Twitter and while it sure does seem to be filling everyone with intense feelings, it is probably not the feelings that Ola would ever want targeted on them.
Delhi and for that matter almost the entire India is slowly moving towards using cabs as their basic mode of transport because you can fight with stubborn autowallahs only for so long.
But at the same time, these cab companies are not without their faults, with almost all, especially the big ones, involved in some kind of controversy or another, you cannot exactly say that one is definitely better than the other.
In the midst of all this, out of all the various cab companies that have sprung up in the past few years, the Indian Ola and the American Uber have been competing with each other since forever. Whether it be taking digs at each or the latest one, where #OlaBeatsUber was trending across Twitter, nothing is really off limits.
#OlaBeatsUber- Really?
So basically this whole thing started from a Truecaller report on the cab- using industry of India, where it concluded that Ola has gotten more customer calls than Uber in the third quarter of the year, that is somewhere between the months of July to September.
According to the statistics in the report Ola has about 85 million calls in the its bucket with Ola making 65 million calls and 19 million calls made by their users. Uber on the other hand, only got to about 29 million calls with Uber making 23 out of the 29 million calls and the users only making about 5-6 million calls.
Ok, But Wait… I Know Why The Call Rate Is So Low
Um… before Ola started jumping around in joy over the numbers, did it bother to check the fact that Uber doesn’t only have a customer care service number?!
Uber instead has an app or mail system, where the person is on their own supposed to figure out the solution to their problem.
Which in itself is a shitty thing, because what happens if you don’t have net or have an emergency?
Are you just supposed to sit down, type out a long mail and then wait for their response?
I mean, what the hell Uber.
But wait, I’m getting a little sidetracked, but the main point here is that Uber has no number only on which people can call, so of course, their call rates will be lower to Ola which has a functioning customer care service helpline number.
But Poor Ola, Even Still Trolled All Over The Net
Even if we do overlook that fact and still take it at face value that Ola does seem to be doing a better job, whoever got that #OlaBeatsUber trending on Twitter, whether it was Ola itself or whoever, seemed to have been really in way over their heads.
Ola was trolled heavily all over with no one spearing even one good word about them.
People were coming out left and right and listing out all the things that are wrong with Ola.
And to an extent, I agree with them.
Ola, Why You Do So?
Okay, so I know that Uber has its many faults, this past year I have heard and read of several unfortunate accidents of Uber cabs where in some cases people even lost their lives.
And frankly Uber can be as big a pain in the ass as Ola. However, at least there are still things that it does that allow people to use it still.
The low prices being the first one.
Being an international brand, I would have thought that Uber would be expensive and Ola would be more in budget, considering its an Indian brand.
And it was, for some time in the beginning, but now I don’t know where Ola seems to think its customers are coming from, probably big bungalows or something, but the Ola’s prices are frankly just ridiculous.
I have used both Ola and Uber so can say it with proof, that the same distance, with the same amount of traffic and whatnot, costs about 2 times more in Ola than in Uber. And in Ola even after taking their cheapest version, that is the Micro, the total is still quite higher than what I have to pay in Uber after getting a private car.
Signing off I would just say that, Ola ho ya Uber, koi saga nahi hai, but at least Uber ke risks to pata hai.
Image Credits: Google Images
Other Recommendations:
http://edtimes.in/2016/12/take-these-steps-and-stay-safe-while-travelling-in-cabs/
http://edtimes.in/2016/09/kaayum-pegu-just-another-uber-cabs-victim-or-a-beacon-of-change-against-uber-incentive-schemes/
