Uber to revive plan to onboard Mumbai's traditional 'kaali-peeli' on app

With only half the registered users active, it could still be a long haul

Five years after it was first launched, Uber India is quietly reviving its experiment to include Mumbai’s traditional black-and-yellow or kaali-peeli taxis on its platform.

The company had started a pilot project in the city but was forced to scale it down, particularly when the pandemic struck. This time it is making some headway — it currently has a reasonable 5,000 registered local taxi drivers — but the challenge is that only a fifth of them are active on the platform.

According to industry estimates, there are around 30,000 black-and-yellow cabs in Mumbai. The task for the company is to get more of these drivers active on the platform.

The move to revive the experiment comes at a time when Uber globally is pushing to bring city taxi services into its fold as part of efforts to convert foes into friends by offering traditional taxi drivers the chance to supplement their income by being on the Uber app and earning some money during off-peak hours.

It also helps Uber to solve the driver shortage it has been facing post-pandemic.

Uber attracted global attention when it announced recently that it will list all the taxis in New York on its app in what will be its first city partnership in the US. It already has a similar partnership with taxi drivers in San Francisco, in South Korea, Spain, Germany, and some Japanese cities.

In a city like Mumbai where there is huge demand, the move will help Uber by expanding the fleet of available cars. Analysts say that the Uber plan could help transform the company into a super app for all transport and transport-related needs.

It already offers a variety of services such as package delivery, intra-city public transport, inter-city transport services and rentals. Listing taxis, which offer tariffs fixed by local governments, is simply another yet another service.

In India, taxi drivers have been unhappy with the emergence of ridesharing and many unions over the years have gone on strike to protest against the loss of income. Protests against ridesharing players have taken place in several cities across the world including London, Paris and Rome.

The idea behind the deal with New York cabbies is to add taxis in the city to the Uber platform and also end tensions.

The drivers of the Mumbai taxis who register with Uber will continue to run their vehicle as a taxi service based on local tariff rate cards fixed by the government. But they can also earn additional income from the Uber app. The rates, though, will differ from what Uber drivers offer through UberGo, for instance, but it gives riders an option for a cheaper non-AC vehicle.

“We started a pilot to have kaali-peeli taxis on the Uber app in 2017. Kaali peeli through Uber is available in some parts of Mumbai and they are run according to the RTO approved rates. We are committed to serving the city to make moving around in Mumbai easier,” said an Uber spokesman.

Uber faced tough times during the pandemic. It is present in over 100 Indian cities and has three-wheeler services in 75 cities. It expects its car services to return to pre-pandemic levels very soon.

The scope for bringing in local city taxi services on the app is, however, limited in India as there are only a few cities (like Coimbatore, for instance) that have an active taxi service. In cities like Kolkata, the number of yellow taxis has been dwindling as a result of the entry of ride-hailing companies.

Uber has pioneered integrating three-wheeler owners/drivers across the country on its platform and it has seen huge growth in the business, despite the pandemic.

Three-wheeler drivers have the flexibility to continue to run their business while supplementing their income through the Uber app.