STARTUP CORNER: Cab-hailing cos cast a wider safety net on ride-sharing

Deepak Kumarmoneycontrol.comIt may be convenient to opt for ride-sharing services in a bid to save a few bucks and avoid crowded buses and trains. But you are likely to miss out on one element that may risk your safety — your co-passenger.

In the country’s fledgling but growing taxi market, cab aggregators and carpooling companies are increasingly putting in place checks to ensure safety of their customers.

BlaBlaCar, a French long distance ride-sharing service, which made its India debut in January 2015, verifies members with the help of government registered identity proofs. While signing up for BlaBlaCar’s services users are encouraged to submit scanned copies of their PAN card, Aadhaar card or a valid passport. Besides these documents, the startup mandates users to sign up with Facebook.

The company says that it has offered 3 million seats since launch of its India operations. A seat usually refers to a number of passengers in a car during a shared ride.

“What we work on very actively is building a trusted community of members. Through all the information, history, digital information, etc, we build a trusted community of members who are able to travel with each other with confidence and safety,” Raghav Gupta, Country Manager, BlaBlaCar, told moneycontrol.com in an email.

“Given that city-to-city public transport is not sufficient in India; train tickets are wait-listed and buses are crowded and uncomfortable; we are helping complement the public transport network,” he said.

The verification scenario is different for Ola and Uber. While these players have checks in place for verifying the authenticity of a driver, measures for passenger verification are limited to a mobile number and an email id.

However, they aren’t lagging in doing their best to give customers a reliable ride. “We are committed to offering our riders a safe, reliable and convenient way to get around cities in India. With features like rider ratings, Send Status and SOS buttons and round-the-clock customer support, our technology makes it possible for us to focus on safety of our riders and driver-partners before, during and after a trip,” said Apurva Dalal, Head of Engineering, Uber India, adding that the US-based aggregator recruits drivers after comprehensive background checks and verification of valid documents.

Uber said passegers of UberPOOL, its ride-sharing service, have shared 12 million miles in India since January 2016.

On the other hand, Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola says its algorithms match riders of common social groups, who can share their cabs on the same route. Also, “Customers can create their own groups and choose the people they want to ride with, without having to share their ride with strangers,” said Raghuvesh Sarup, Head of Categories and Chief Marketing Officer at Ola.

Just like Uber, Ola also conducts strict background checks of drivers. “Security features like Live Ride Tracking, Share Ride Details, SOS, Emergency Contacts, 24x7 Customer Support and in-trip feedback are available for users on Ola Share,” he added.

Also, to avoid unsolicited calls from cab drivers, Ola has introduced a 'number masking’ feature that keeps the customer’s mobile number hidden from the driver.

There is also a push for a customer convenience with features like rating your fellow rider. “When people travel with each other we ask them to rate one another. These ratings become visible for future co-travellers to see,” says Gupta of BlaBlaCar, adding that the company also lets users list preferences such as smoking, music, etc. These type of softer checks help riders set right expectations from a long-distance trip.