Got an opportunity to visit Chennai over the weekend and tried all the cab services – Zoomcar, Ola, Uber, Rapido and Namma Yatri in Chennai. My observations are as follows and these are based on the 6-7 trips that we took over a span of three days – Sat, Sun and Mon.
On Saturday, we booked Zoomcar from 7.00 AM to 10.00 PM and and extended it further by 1 hour. The process is simple – you book the car in app and take delivery at the garage. There were no hidden fees and we went to Mahabalipuram. The toll and fuel fare is on us. We chose Mahindra XUV and it costed us about INR4200 for the day.
On Sunday, we wanted to go to Dakshin Chitra on ECR. We could not find any cabs at around 10.00 AM in all the platforms. When the cab got booked, the driver would call, ask us the drop point and then ask us the cancel saying he is not interested in the ride. If we cancel the cab, cancellation charges are to be borne by bus. So, we leave the app and move to the next app and the frustrated driver finally cancels it. That way, we left 2 cabs on Ola and the driver cancelled it after knowing the drop point.
The next time, the cab got booked for me and husband simultaneously. SO, I cancelled it and the cancellation charges were added to my account. We boarded the cab that came on Ola from my husband’s app and got dropped off. The driver took the fare shown in the app. All was well until now. Then, after visit Dakshin Chitra we wanted to return back to the hotel near Chennai International Airport in Meenambakkam at around 5.30 PM. There were no cab in any of the ride-sharing apps. We waited till 6.00 till the entrance of Dakshin Chitra and did not get any cab in Ola, Uber, Rapido and Namma Yatri. Then, we walked till the Main entrance and tried our luck. But still, we did not get any. Then, we went to one of the nearby cafe and had Goli Soda and noodles. All through the munching session, we were booking cabs. literally, we did not get one single cab. Ola said “no driver nearby”. It was almost 7.00 and we decided that relying on a cab any further was useless.
So, we walked until the MGM bus stop and took a share auto to Sholinganallur. The fare was 50 per head. While the amount seemed fine, the problem with share auto is that the auto anna will take the vehicle only when it gets full. So, we sat inside the share auto and waited patiently. Finally, he dropped us off infront of Rainbow Hospital. We tried booking a cab from here to Meenambakkam. We got a cab and the fare was about 450. The driver suggested that we pretend to get down halfway and pay only 150 rs to Ola and continue the remaining journey and pay him the remaining amount directly. That was his trick to surpass the commission he needs to pay to Ola. This was completely new to us and we have never faced one such trick with any Ola driver in Bangalore. However, he did not demand any extra fare when we got down. His deal was fair enough I would say!
The next day on Monday, again at 10,0 AM, we tried to book a cab from the hotel near Meenambakkam airport to Kapaleeshwarar temple. Again, no cabs came to our rescue. Cab will get booked, driver will ask drop point, ask us to cancel, we will leave it and he will cancel. AS no cabs came, we tried our luck with auto. One auto driver came and said he is rejecting us as he is not okay with 4 people travelling in one auto. When we said, our little daughter will sit in our lap, he asked for 100 Rs extra. It was already 10.45 AM and the travel time is tentatively 1 hr. As the temple will close by 12.00, we said okay and he dropped us off taking 100 Rs extra. We had a soulful darshan and finally, we now wanted to return to our hotel room. The search again started and we could not find any cab/auto until 1.15 noon. So, we went to mylapore train station and took a train to Velacherry. The fare is just 5 and being a monday noon, the train was empty. At Velacherry railway station, we found a auto driver who said he can drop us at hotel room if we give by 100 rs more than Ola’s tenative fare. Again, we had no option but to give and accept the ride.
After lunch, me and my daughter wanted to visit the stores like Pothys and Saravana Stores in Chrompet which was just 2 kms from the hotel room. We tried booking cabs and after 1 driver rejection, finally 1 driver came. The car number stated in the app did not match with the car that came. The driver informed that as OTP is there, it is safe to board his car and I consulted my husband. As it was day time, he told me to share my live location and accept the ride. As it just a 5 minute ride, I too felt it was okay and took the risk. While getting down, the driver told me to pay a little extra and leave. I said okay, and got down but paid only the fare in the app. On the way back at around 7.15 PM, we tried booking an auto. Again, the same scenario happened. The auto number was different from the auto that came. The fare was around 48 Rs. But the driver said he will come if I give 100 Rs. As we had to check out that night, I accepted the offer and finally we came back home.
My takeaways for Best Cab in Chennai
=> In all, I felt that getting a cab in Chennai (particularly to and from airport area) is a huge deal. Drivers will simply keep rejecting you.
=> You will see the cab moving for the first 3 second and then it will become idle and you can expect a call from driver asking for the drop off point. So, it is better to start booking a cab atleast 30 prior to the time you want to leave. It seems common to ask for extra money than Ola/Uber/Rapido fare.
=> Rapido is expensive than Ola and Uber. However, getting a cab in this platform is easier is what I heard people say.
=> Registration Numbers of vehicles is easily different from the one stated in app.
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