80% prefer Ola­Uber: Survey

MUMBAI: An online survey pertaining app-based taxis conducted by a consumer group in Mumbai has highlighted that 94% of commuters feel harassed by black-and-yellow

MUMBAI: An online survey pertaining app-based taxis conducted by a consumer group in Mumbai has highlighted that 94% of commuters feel harassed by black-and-yellow taxis and auto-rickshaw drivers. Even as 80% of the commuters feel that Ola-Uber offers better service than conventional taxis, 65% commuters opined that surge price levied by these aggregators is burdensome.

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Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP), a non-government organisation conducted this ‘Online perception survey about app-based taxis’ between August 27 to 31, during which 76,196 commuters were surveyed. Of these, 62,691 (About 82.61%) were from Mumbai, followed by 6,547 from Thane, 3,195 from Navi Mumbai and 443 from Mira-Bhayander. Other commuters, including those from Pune, Nashik, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata were also surveyed.

Varsha Raut, an MGP member, said they will be forwarding the findings of the survey to the state transport and Union ministry of transport, besides Competition Commission of India and other concerned authorities. “The survey has highlighted the consumers’ perception regarding the quality and service they expect from their daily mode of transport,” said Raut, adding that the government should take findings of the survey into consideration while making rules for regulating app-based taxis.

LARGER PERCEPTION

Nearly 71,726 (94%) of the 76,169 commuters feel that taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers harass them, while only 4,443 commuters don’t agree to this. At the same time 80% commuters feel that Ola and Uber are offering better option for travel to them. When it comes to rate the willingness of drivers to ply commuters to their desired destination, 58,450 people rated Ola and Uber services as good, whereas only 1,586 and 4,103 gave the same grades to kali-peeli taxis and auto-rickshaws respectively.

But it does not mean that everybody is satisfied with the service provided by the app-based taxis. Survey also highlighted that 19% commuters were unsatisfied with the feedback system provided by Ola and Uber. Only 29% rated it very good. The survey also revealed that 11% commuters use Ola and Uber cabs every day and 15% hail those once in a week, while 40% use the services several times in a week. Cheaper fares is one of the main reasons for commuters switching over to Ola and Uber. The survey highlighted that 47% commuters consider that app-based taxis are cheaper than other taxis and auto-rickshaws. However, 22% commuters think that those are cheaper than all types of taxis, but expensive than auto rickshaws.