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"Olacabs": Cabs service in India, also faced similar deterioration of service after rapid expansion. Makes me wonder if startup-growth issue or public-transpor

"Olacabs": Cabs service in India, also faced similar deterioration of service after rapid expansion. Makes me wonder if startup-growth issue or public-transport culture problem. Because in my experience the heavily politicized transport trade unions in india, do cause lot of trouble for initiatives like these. src: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Meru-threatens-to-shut-operations/articleshow/18053914.cms http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Meru-threaten...

keerthiko 12y ago
A difference here is that rickshaws tend to be independently operated, somewhat differently from the incumbent taxi services worldwide that have dispatch agencies, who are directly hurt by Uber-likes routing traffic directly to the drivers rather than through the agencies. Here, originally the only operands were customer and driver, and now Autowale, while increasing the number of operations happening, making pretty much everyone happier. Of course, there are a few rickshaw agencies, or bigwigs with subordinate drivers, who play the role of the taxi agency, and probably get angered by this, but I don't think they're unified/large enough to pose a notable threat. So I would foresee startup-growth/business-model issues being the more relevant causes for a shutdown of Autowale, contrary to with car/taxi startups.
kamaal 12y ago
>>public-transport culture problem That's just one thing. Operating a fleet of vehicles comes with its own head aches. Start with deprecating assets, poorly maintained vehicles, and thin profit margins. Doing this on scale gets very difficult. Plus from everything I've heard. Getting parking slots, permission, permits etc requires paying out heavy bribes[Which you can't legally account for] etc etc. Together all of this really makes it difficult to run this business on scale.
anandish 12y ago
Shanky, not the kind of experience you'd have known Ola for. There could have been some cases of a few inconsistent experience coming your way (surely a function of scale), but that is minimized to a very large extent with aggressive sourcing of feedback, audits and quality checks. As such, Ola doesn't face such issues since it's focus is towards creating micro-entrepreneurship opportunities for drivers (who own their cars) and work with Ola purely on a commission basis, but in adherence to strict quality measures. On a side note. if you have had a bad experience(s), do share up your CRN on feedback@olacabs.com. The team is generally quick to resolve.
- shankysingh 12y ago
  Hey Anandish, Thanks man will do :)

keerthiko 12y ago

A difference here is that rickshaws tend to be independently operated, somewhat differently from the incumbent taxi services worldwide that have dispatch agencies, who are directly hurt by Uber-likes routing traffic directly to the drivers rather than through the agencies. Here, originally the only operands were customer and driver, and now Autowale, while increasing the number of operations happening, making pretty much everyone happier. Of course, there are a few rickshaw agencies, or bigwigs with subordinate drivers, who play the role of the taxi agency, and probably get angered by this, but I don't think they're unified/large enough to pose a notable threat. So I would foresee startup-growth/business-model issues being the more relevant causes for a shutdown of Autowale, contrary to with car/taxi startups.

kamaal 12y ago

>>public-transport culture problem That's just one thing. Operating a fleet of vehicles comes with its own head aches. Start with deprecating assets, poorly maintained vehicles, and thin profit margins. Doing this on scale gets very difficult. Plus from everything I've heard. Getting parking slots, permission, permits etc requires paying out heavy bribes[Which you can't legally account for] etc etc. Together all of this really makes it difficult to run this business on scale.

anandish 12y ago

Shanky, not the kind of experience you'd have known Ola for. There could have been some cases of a few inconsistent experience coming your way (surely a function of scale), but that is minimized to a very large extent with aggressive sourcing of feedback, audits and quality checks. As such, Ola doesn't face such issues since it's focus is towards creating micro-entrepreneurship opportunities for drivers (who own their cars) and work with Ola purely on a commission basis, but in adherence to strict quality measures. On a side note. if you have had a bad experience(s), do share up your CRN on feedback@olacabs.com. The team is generally quick to resolve.

shankysingh 12y ago
Hey Anandish, Thanks man will do :)