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Kaali-Peeli v/s New-age Cabs

Kaali-Peeli v/s (Uber | Ola |Meru |EasyCab | Tab)

Decide: Are they different? Are they the same?


Background
In Mumbai there is perennial debate about how the technology led taxi services (eg. Uber, Ola or Meru, EasyCab, TabCab)  are spoiling the livelihood of the black-n-yellow (also called kaali-peeli) taxi's. And often the tech savvy folks side with the technology driven taxi fleet because 
  • all said and done they are a "phone call" or an "app click away" form where ever you are plus
  • Most of the users have had some kind of  negative experience with the Kaali-Peeli cab in the form of 
    1. [often] not plying short distances 
    2. [often] avoiding packed road routes
    3. [very often] not willing to go where you want to go or 
    4. [less often] asking for more than what is due on the meter or taking a longer route
    5. [once in a while] on a more serious note being flinched by a Kaali-Peeli especially when you arrive by a long distance train (Dadar!)
    6. [always] Not in good shape (old Fiats!) and invariably no AC!
All the points mentioned about Kaali-Peeli taxis are true. Depending on how often you travel and where in Mumbai you travel and what time of the day you travel and how new you are to Mumbai you will definitely experience these interactions with the Kaali-Peeli taxi drivers. So one wonders if there is any merit in Kaali-Peeli taxi drivers (supported by their union!) cribbing about how the new age cabs are eating into livelihood.

Debate
While most of the Mumbaikar's have taken to the tech supported cabs because of the easy of hailing a taxi, newer vehicles (eventually they will become old!) and the ability to rate the driver and get rated, they pick you up from where you are without charging for the "come to me to pick up" distance. Are the new age cabs any better than the Kaali-Peeli?

With a minimum fare of the most new-age cabs being much higher than the Kaali-Peeli, they are taking care of the "come to me distance" to a certain extent plus they might be discouraging a short distance traveler (so in that sense they are no different from Kaali-Peeli in terms of not plying short distances!)

The easiest way to "not go where you want to go" (another feature of Kaali-Peeli) if for the technology driven cabs to do some deep analytics and figure out that there is no cab in your vicinity or when possible suggest that you will be charged a multiplicative surcharge. Either way this is no different from the Kaali-Peeli not coming where you want to go, except that now we do not feel let down!

Avoid packed routes is best taken care off by the tech-cab is to charge by the minute for your ride, heavy traffic, no problem you sit in the cab and pay my the minute. Now this charging my the minuted is not an option for the Kaali-Peeli so they refuse to take you on a dense road - either way both Kaali-Peeli and tech-cab are no different.

Not willing to go where you want to go is easy for the tech-cab. Flash a message "No cabs available" or "We are trying to fetch you a cab, please bear with us" or a simple "Sorry". Am sure most of us have faced this. How is this different from Kaali-Peeli?

Except for the "neat", "new",  "AC" cab on all other fronts both the Kaali-Peeli and the new age cabs are the same-same. Except that the new age cabs have technology and data crunching done to tell you the same thing that you have heard from an actual live Kaali-Peeli taxi driver.

And yes, most of us do not crib when a machine tells us something but definitely do not want to hear the same thing spoken directly from another human!

Let the debate continue.

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