A recent blog post here on LI extolled the virtues of hail taxis and the new era of "Uberia". That set me thinking: aside from the possibly polarized views on the business viability of so many new-gen taxi ventures, are these mushrooming concepts contributing to hazard on the Indian roads? To me, they are not very dissimilar to the NYC couriers on two wheels who drive like the devil and have been, at times, a threat to pedestrians.
The big Indian cities are beset with four major problems today (among many, many more): a. crush of vehicles of all types as Indians begin to overdose on vehicular consumption; b. absent city planning and unscientific traffic management; c. lack of adequate policing and proper training among traffic police; and d. vastly inadequate enforcement and penalty measures.
Now, where and how is Uber (and other Indian ventures such as Ola, Meru, EasyCab, etc) involved in this debate, you ask? These taxis are now contributing not only to the exponential increase in cars on the road but to sloppy driving practices and serious breaches of traffic rules (hopping red lights, gross lane indiscipline, aggressive driving with frequent tailgating, flashing lights and honking incessantly). While we can all look to the government - and particularly the traffic police - to step in and enforce rules, this is not going to happen any time soon. Nor is it the responsibility of the government alone.
Mere observation tells me some 60+% of all taxis on urban roads are those of organized taxi companies, the balance standalone. Of the 60%, I would wager 90% of them (and all of the standalones) break traffic laws every single day. That's a phenomenal number of law breakers risking life and limb. Most of the drivers are ill-trained and barely know the rules. My own car has been bruised, scratched, and rear lights smashed and this sorry tale is the experience of every law-abiding citizen on the roads. The story of pedestrians is even worse.
However, as a citizen and as a customer aiding such hail taxi ventures to make revenues and in brand building in my own little way, I have a legitimate expectation. This expectation is directed both at the senior leadership at these companies and at the venture capital firms that have heavily funded them to step up customer acquisition. That expectation can be summed up with this: where do you get off fellas in your implicit support for illegal behavior by your drivers?
Try Uber, for instance. The company does not even have its brand on the taxis that have Uber drivers. Which means I do not even know if a taxi that just hopped a red light was a Uber taxi. If I took a snapshot and sent it to Uber, they could always claim it was not their taxi. Many taxi drivers in India, moreover, have multiple allegiances, fielding two or more smartphones tied to two or more taxi companies. And, finally, economics trumps: all of these companies are in a desperate drive - pun intended - to retain drivers and incentivize them even more to bring in customers. See that logic? This fuels the Speeding Ninjas who, in any case, are given no formal good driving training or penalized in any way so long as they bring in the accounts. In fact, I wonder what corporate value system these companies hold to.
The relentless push for market share, and therefore, higher valuations, has had very deleterious effects. It has made these companies turn a blind eye to Indian traffic laws and made them lawbreakers as a result. The blame lies not so much with the taxi drivers, it now lies squarely with the management of the companies and their investors in not stepping in to stem the spreading disease. I hope they would and save themselves the ignominy of a toll on reputation that would inevitably follow. As it is, none of them enjoy a particularly good brand image. This is just another version of drug companies that preferred to hide evidence of adverse events with their drugs on the market or of car companies that ignored warning signs of something going wrong with one of their vehicle models in order not to incur the expense of recall.
Uber and the like represent a new-gen version of these old economy companies that have an obligation to society. Only the form is different, but the impact on public safety is just the same. Uber has been in the news for individual passenger safety but we need to examine their record - as well as those of its competitors - in public safety as well.
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