Uber India addresses trip cancellations, drivers not switching on AC

Cab-hailing firm will show trip destinations to drivers before they decide to accept a ride.

Next time when you book an Uber cab, the chances of the driver calling you and asking “Jana Kahan Hai” and then cancelling the trip, is expected to be less.

The ride-hailing company has come up with various innovations for improving the experience for drivers and riders in India. These address concerns ranging from earnings in the wake of higher fuel prices to long-distance pick-ups and payment schedules. Other issues that the new features aim to address include riders complaining about drivers cancelling trips or not wanting to switch on the AC.

The hike in fuel prices has impacted everyone, especially ridesharing drivers who have felt the pinch of rising fuel costs. In March this year, the first-ever Uber Driver Advisory Council convened. The driver members on the council raised this as a key issue.

Over the past few weeks, Dara Khosrowshahi-led Uber said it has raised fares to cushion drivers from the impact of rising fuel prices across many cities in India.

“We have raised fares across multiple cities typically in the range of 10-15 per cent and the number varies city by city,” said Nitish Bhushan, head of central operations, Uber India and South Asia, in an interview. “Here essentially what we look at is the fuel price increase of the different fuel types. Some markets are CNG heavy and others are diesel heavy. So depending on the dominant fuel type in the city, the price hike actually varies based on the location.”

The other issue is the driver calling the customers, asking them about the destination and then cancelling the trip. Bhushan said Uber is now shows trip destinations to drivers before they decide to accept a ride.

Drivers who meet a predefined trip acceptance threshold will be eligible to get the destination information so that they can make an informed choice. The upfront destination feature is already live across 20 cities and will be expanded to all others.

“Given this is a substantial change, we will continue monitoring feedback from drivers and riders, and iterating on these thresholds over the coming few weeks,” said Bhushan.

Drivers understandably don’t like having to drive out of their way to pick up passengers. To fix this, Uber has introduced additional earnings for drivers in case they have to travel a long distance to pick up riders. This will give drivers the comfort to accept more trips and will benefit riders as trip reliability goes up. Drivers will be able to see the earnings for long pick-ups, separately displayed on the fare receipt. “When drivers are few, and demand is high, this will help ensure that you can get a ride when you need one,” said Bhushan.

Also, everybody’s needs related to payment mode or cycle are different. Drivers at the Uber advisory council meeting told the firm that they would like more flexibility around payments. Uber is now showing drivers the mode of payment (cash or online) before the trip starts. This enables the driver to choose a cash-only ride if that’s what they need. Going a step further to make the cash or online decision irrelevant, the firm has now introduced a daily pay process for drivers. This will ensure that trip earnings from Monday to Thursday, are credited to drivers the next day, while earnings from Friday to Sunday, are credited on Monday.

“With these changes, we are also reinforcing service quality expectations with drivers, especially in areas like cancellations and ensuring AC rides,” said Bhushan.

These features have come at a time when the government has warned cab aggregators like Ola and Uber to comply with surge pricing and driver cancellation mandates as laid down under the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines within a month, or else face penal provisions.

Moreover, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) is soon expected to come up with a draft advisory for online cab aggregators. The warning came at a meeting held recently between the consumer affairs ministry and representatives of ride-hailing platforms such as Ola, Uber, Meru, Rapido, and Jugnu, among others.

Bhushan, of Uber, said the new features introduced by the company have been in the works for a very long period based on months of experimentation and consultations with the driver community. “Hopefully, the things which we are doing here actually assess the grievances, which the Department of Consumer Affairs (informed) us about,” said Bhushan. “Hopefully a lot of those (issues) would get addressed by these (features). We do expect that there is going to be a substantial impact.”

The Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines has capped surge pricing at 1.5 times higher than the base fare, and also introduced a cancellation penalty for drivers at 10 per cent of the fare, which is capped at Rs 100. However, so far, very few states have made the guidelines operational.

A survey carried out by Local Circles, an online platform dealing with community interests and local governance, revealed that 71 per cent of ride-hailing app users faced cancellation issues while 45 per cent said they were charged more than 1.5 times when it came to surge pricing.