Tag: Uber

Categories
Business

Uber brings mobility fintech Moove to India

Moove aims to launch 5,000 CNG and electric vehicles within the first year and plans to scale to 30,000 over the next five years in India…reports Asian Lite News

Ride-hailing major Uber on Monday announced to bring Moove, its largest vehicle supply partner in the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) market, to India to help people buy new vehicles using a percentage of their weekly revenue, first in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, and become its driver-partners.

Founded in 2020, mobility fintech Moove embeds its alternative credit scoring technology onto ride-hailing platforms and leverages proprietary performance and revenue analytics to underwrite loans to drivers who have previously been excluded from financial services.

Moove aims to launch 5,000 CNG and electric vehicles within the first year and plans to scale to 30,000 over the next five years in India.

“Moove has created an innovative rent to own” model that provides a flexible option for drivers who want to get into the business of ride hailing without having to borrow from car owners or take bank loans to finance cars brought from dealerships,” said Abhilekh Kumar, Director, Business Development, Uber India South Asia.

“The addition of new cars will help provide superior customer experience to riders while creating sustainable earning opportunities for drivers on the Uber platform,” Kumar added.

The startup recently raised $105 million to expand across new markets in Asia and Europe.

With over 600,000 drivers on Uber in India, the launch will unlock an opportunity for Moove to provide accessible financing to thousands of drivers.

“We’re excited to be expanding our revenue-based vehicle financing model to enable the sustainable creation of jobs across the country, where there are some of the lowest vehicle ownership rates in the world, in part because of the lack of access to credit,” said Ladi Delano, co-founder and co-CEO at Moove.

Moove aims to be a global leader in the electrification of ride-hailing and mobility with a commitment to ensuring that 60 per cent of the vehicles it finances globally are hybrid or electric.

ALSO READ-Africa Fintech Summit Washington D.C. 2022

Categories
-Top News Europe

Macron under fire over Uber links

Leaders called for a parliamentary inquiry into reports that Emmanuel Macron, while he was economy minister from 2014 to 2016, went to extraordinary lengths to support Uber’s lobbying campaign…reports Asian Lite News

French opposition politicians from the left and far right have seized on the Uber files revelations to criticise President Emmanuel Macron, after the trove of documents showed his past help for the company’s lobbying campaign to disrupt traditional taxis, media reports said.

The revelations come at a difficult time for Macron’s centrists, who lost control of parliament in recent legislative elections, The Guardian reported.

Several figures from the left to the far right, as well as the leader of the leftwing CGT trade union, called for a parliamentary inquiry into reports that Emmanuel Macron, while he was economy minister from 2014 to 2016, went to extraordinary lengths to support Uber’s lobbying campaign to help it disrupt France’s closed-shop taxi industry, telling the tech company he had brokered a secret “deal” favourable to Uber with a bitterly divided Socialist party, then in power.

Aurelien Tache, a member of parliament who was elected for Macron’s party in 2017 but reelected this year as part of the leftwing opposition coalition, Nupes, told France Info radio: “It’s almost like a bad thriller – meetings and rendez-vous that were hidden.”

He said the fact that the company asked Macron for advice during a raid on their offices by government inspectors must be investigated.

“It’s a state scandal,” he said, The Guardian reported.

Alain Vidalies, who was the Socialist transport secretary at the time Uber was attempting to establish itself in France, told France Info radio he was “gobsmacked” by the extent of Macron’s support of Uber lobbying, particularly that Macron had taken part in “quasi-secret” meetings with the company, which he called a type of “complicity”. He said the French people had a right to “a response and clarifications” from the executive.

Mathilde Panot, the parliamentary leader of the hard-left opposition party France Unbowed, denounced what she described as the “pillage of the country” during Macron’s time as minister under president Francois Hollande. She described Macron as a “lobbyist” for a “US multinational aiming to permanently deregulate labour law”.

Jordan Bardella of the far-right National Rally party said the revelations showed that Macron’s career had “a common thread: to serve private interests, often foreign, before national interests”, The Guardian reported.

Aurore Berge, the parliamentary leader of Macron’s centrist party, said Macron had simply been doing his job and doing it well. She told CNews that Uber had created a service that French people wanted and Macron had rightly facilitated the arrival of companies that created jobs.

On accusations of a secret deal, she said: “There was no deal, there was no quid pro quo.”

ALSO READ: No absolute majority for Macron after legislative polls

Categories
Business India News

Indian regulator to grill Ola, Uber over unfair practices

The notice sent by CCPA mentioned unreasonable levy of cancellation charge wherein users are not shown the amount of time within which cancelling a ride is permitted….reports Asian Lite News

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) on Friday issued notices to Ola and Uber for unfair trade practices and violation of consumer rights, slamming the ride-hailing platforms over lack of proper consumer grievance redressal mechanism, deficiency in service, unreasonable levy of cancellation charges and fairness of algorithm used to charge fares.

As per the data from the National Consumer Helpline (NCH), 2,482 grievances were registered by consumers against Ola and 770 grievances were registered against Uber in the month of April, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs said in a statement.

Last week, the CCPA, under its Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare, warned ride-hailing platforms like Uber and Ola to fix rising consumer complaints regarding ride cancellations, cancellation charges, random surge pricing, and long waiting times, or else face penal action.

The Department of Consumer Affairs, in a meeting with ride-hailing companies Ola, Uber, Rapido, Meru Cabs and Jugnoo, directed them to become convergence partner in the National Consumer Helpline, to enable better grievance redressal for consumers and also compliance with Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and E-commerce Rules.

The notice mentioned unreasonable levy of cancellation charge wherein users are not shown the amount of time within which cancelling a ride is permitted.

“The amount of cancellation charge is not displayed prominently on the platform before booking the ride. Undue cancellation charges are borne by users when they are forced to cancel the ride due to unwillingness of the driver to accept the ride or come at the pick-up location,” said the watchdog.

The primary issues raised in the notice are deficiency in service which includes lack of proper response from customer support, driver refusing to take payment by online mode and insisting for cash only, higher amount charged despite going on the same route previously at a lesser charge, unprofessional driver behaviour and driver refusing to switch on AC when the consumer is promised AC ride on the app.

The CCPA also raised inadequate consumer grievance redressal mechanism in absence of both customer care number and details of grievance officer as required to be mentioned on the ride-hailing platforms.

There is also acelack of any information on the algorithm or method used by the company to charge different fares for the same route from two individuals”.

“It may be mentioned that a significant number of complaints have been lodged by consumers across the country on multiple issues which affect their rides booked through both the ride hailing platforms,” the ministry said.

On Thursday, Uber India’s Director of Central Operations Nitish Bhushan said that the company is “reinforcing service quality expectations with drivers especially in areas like cancellations and ensuring AC rides”.

“In addition to driver notifications and training, repeated complaints from riders on these service quality essentials could lead to penalties and even restricted app access,” Bhushan added.

He, however, did not elaborate on if any penal action was initiated against the errant drivers, as 770 grievances were registered against Uber in the month of April via the National Consumer Helpline, like paid amount not refunded, unauthorised charges, charging more than MRP, among others.

The Department of Consumer Affairs is set to issue new guidelines related to surge pricing and ride cancellations by ride-hailing platforms soon that will give some reprieve to the end users.

CCPA’s head Khare had given the ride-hailing platforms 30 days to fix their algorithms related to ride cancellations and surge pricing, else they will be penalised.

ALSO READ: Uber India hikes ride fares

Categories
Business India News

Uber India hikes ride fares

Amid the rising cost of fuel, the driver members on the council had raised this as a key issue to the company….reports Asian Lite News

Among the measures to cushion drivers from the impact of rising fuel prices across many cities in the country, Uber India raised fares in the last few weeks, its Director of Central Operations Nitish Bhushan said on Thursday.

Amid the rising cost of fuel, the driver members on the council had raised this as a key issue to the company.

“The hike in fuel prices has impacted everyone, especially ridesharing drivers who have felt the pinch of rising fuel costs,” said Bhushan.

“We are always striving to make driving with Uber a viable and attractive option for drivers and the recent hike in fares will directly boost their earnings per trip,” he said in a blog post.

To remove frustration for riders and drivers alike, the company is also showing trip destinations to drivers before they decide to accept the ride.

“Drivers at the Uber advisory council meeting told us they would like more flexibility around payments. We are now showing drivers the mode of payment (cash or online) before the trip starts,” the company said.

To make the cash or online decision irrelevant, the company has also introduced a daily pay process for drivers.

With these changes, the company said that they are also reinforcing their service quality expectations with drivers especially in areas like cancellations and ensuring AC rides.

The company, however, did not elaborate on the burning issue of ride cancellations by drivers and surge pricing that has affected the riders in the country.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) last week warned ride-hailing platforms like Uber and Ola to fix rising consumer complaints regarding ride cancellations, cancellation charges, random surge pricing, and long waiting times, or else face penal action.

The consumer regulator, under its Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare, gave the ride-hailing platforms 30 days to fix their algorithms related to ride cancellations and surge pricing, else they will be penalised.

The Department of Consumer Affairs is also set to issue new guidelines related to surge pricing and ride cancellations by ride-hailing platforms soon that will give some reprieve to the end users, according to sources.

The CCPA grilled cab aggregators over their algorithms related to ride cancellations and surge pricing and directed them to be more vigilant regarding their customers.

The authority had received numerous complaints of unfair trading practices, such as cab drivers forcing riders to cancel trips that result in the customers paying the cancellation charge.

ALSO READ: More edtech firms shift focus

Categories
Business London News

Uber secures 30-month London taxi license


The move ends a years-long spat with the agency, which twice revoked Uber’s London license — once in 2017, and a second time in 2019…reports Asian Lite News

Ride-hailing company Uber has secured a 30-month license to continue operating in London, ending a protracted battle with city regulators over whether the ride-hailing app was “fit and proper”.

“Uber has been granted a London private hire vehicle operator’s license for a period of two and a half years,” a Transport for London spokesperson said was quoted as saying in a statement by Engadget.

The move ends a years-long spat with the agency, which twice revoked Uber’s London license — once in 2017, and a second time in 2019.

Authorities were concerned about the company’s ability to keep passengers safe. Uber subsequently won an 18-month London permit in court, the report said.

Uber has sought to turn on the charm over the years, adding new safety features to its platform and striking a deal with Britain’s GMB to formally recognise the labor union for its private hire drivers.

The company reclassified all its UK drivers as workers last year after the country’s top court ruled a group of drivers should be treated as workers instead of independent contractors, entitling them to employment protections like a minimum wage, holiday pay and pensions.

ALSO READ-Afghanistan’s ex-minister Payenda now drives Uber in US