Uber the dominant ride-hailing service giant has set up its plans to augment the driver base exponentially at twice the rate. It is predicted that there will be one million drivers in India by the next year. Simultaneously it is revamping itself to distance itself and sort out several pitfalls which plagued the San-Francisco based company recently including the quest for replacement of Travis Kalanick who stepped down as the CEO of the company previously.
Yesterday Uber India which is the second biggest operating unit for Uber noted the fact that the brand had achieved the objective of generating 500 million trips. Further noted was that a rapid and vigorous progress was observed with respect to the Indian market which was gauged at 250 % year on year 2 months back.
Amit Jain who is the President of Uber India noted that crossing big milestones and experiencing a mounting yet expanding growth signifies the power of the enterprise in the Indian nation. He further stated that progress in satiating the driver base, the riders and all the metropolises where Uber operates will not be halted but will continue to rise even further.
Uber launched its enterprise domain in India in August 2013 with humble beginnings. Initially, there were only three employees and the service was offered only for the city of Bengaluru. Now 4 years later the enterprise boasts of encompassing over a thousand people who see to it that the service is carried effectively in 29 cities across India and ensure that amazing attributes and add-ons are made to cater to the Indian market and riders. It further states that it is the reigning ride-hailing service in India where it features a sum of over 450,000 registered drivers and has 5 million active riders on a weekly timeframe. In response to this statement, its chief rival Ola repudiates it by claiming it encompasses more than 650,000 drivers operating across various platforms like cabs, auto rickshaws, bikes and even buses.
In the midst of such promising and assuring news, RedSeer stated that Uber’s market stand had decreased by 5 % in the first quarter of 2017. This alarming drop has also impacted the driver base where there is a worrisome fall in their numbers.
To add to the adversity, the driver unions and the Government itself is supposed to plunge into the ride hailing service as well. In the city where it started- Bengaluru, a union of 25,000 drivers which is approximately gauged as one-fourth of the total partners of the two leading ride hailing giants have created a unique app supported and funded by the Janata Dal.
This new app assures that tariff related to the rides will begin at 12 rupees per kilometer. With this move, they can serve as an alternative to the cost associated with Uber and Ola which levy a charge of approximately 15 Rupees for the same distance when availing a private cab in the metropolis of Bengaluru.
Based on what Mr. Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways noted, the government will soon develop its own equivalent of a ride hailing app. However, the practicality and reality associated with emerging competing services remain vague and imprecise for now.
As the rider base is frantically searching for other options, an aspect which signifies the reluctance to be imposed with expensive fares stems from Uber surprisingly. It notes that 25 % of all its rides were associated with UberPOOL which provides rides for the riders where the charge is half that of a normal ride associated with a cab operating its services for Uber.
