Ola Vs Uber - The Ultimate Debate

For sometime, there has been this continuous debate over which taxi operator - Ola or Uber is better. So, I took it upon myself to distinguish between the two, analyse the pros and cons of both the apps, their drivers and customer satisfaction and here is my report:

Ola Cabs

OlaCabs:

Ola Mini (Rs. 80 for 4 kms and thereafter Rs. 10/km)
Ola Sedan (Rs. 100 for 4 kms and thereafter Rs. 13/ km)
Ola Auto (Meter Rate + Rs10 convenience charge)

Ola Mini offers its customers a small car with a small boot space at a relatively lower price. This car is ideal for 1 - 3 passengers but can hold 4 passengers (excluding the driver).
The Ola sedan can more or less comfortably hold 1 - 4 passengers (excluding the driver) at a slightly higher price.
The Ola Auto allows customers to book an auto which can hold upto 3 people. The advantages of an Ola Auto is that it allows customers to travel whatever distances that they want without bargaining with the Auto Driver. I, have used this feature a m times and at certain instances, the drivers have been mean and refused to come even after accepting the ride. But, they have never demanded excess fare, a sight common in India.

The App:
The Ola app is quite user friendly.The app allows users to book taxis with ease. Like mentioned above, it is quite user friendly. This allows old aged people who are trying hard to adapt to modern technology to easily book a cab for themselves. The app also has a detailed section which allows the users to know the taxi fares. Users can also share their location with another while in the taxi. This not only maintains the security of an individual, but it also lets the other person know when their friend is reaching a particular place.

Uber:

uberGO (Base fare Rs. 30 + Rs.1/ min + Rs. 7/km. Min fare: Rs. 50, Cancellation Fare: Rs.50)
uberX (Base fare Rs. 40 + Rs.1/ min + Rs. 8/km. Min fare: Rs. 75, Cancellation Fare: Rs. 75)
uberBLACK and uberSUV (Base fare Rs. 100 + Rs.2/ min + Rs. 17/km. Min fare: Rs. 150, Cancellation Fare: Rs. 150)

uberGo, is the equivalent to Ola Mini.
uberX is the equivalent to the Ola Sedan
uberBLACK and uberSUV are big cars, which can seat 7 people or even larger. They are considerably more expensive. Only if a group of people want to travel together in one car and are not willing to travel in two separate cars this type of car is useful. This is because, it is cheaper to book two uberXs than one uberBLACK or uberSUV.

The App:
The app is again very user friendly. The difference between the two apps are negligible.

Certain Similarities:
Considering that both these companies are mobile based taxi aggregators, they are bound to be major similarities. One similarity in both apps, that I personally think is very useful, is the 'Share Ride' option that allows its users to share a ride with their colleagues, friends etc. This will then result in the riders to share the cost of the ride in a hassle free manner.

Conclusion:

Both the apps are very well programmed.
The drivers are more or less courteous.
The fares are not too high and are affordable.
Ola has an added option of hiring Autos which Uber doesn't have.
Ola's rates remain more or less constant and the surcharge during peak time traffic isn't high.
Uber's rate at face value appear cheaper than Ola, but surcharge rates are applied almost throughout the day. This makes the ride more expensive.
Uber allows you to avail their services only after confirming your identity by using your credit card.
Uber's SUV & BLACK option isn't really helpful as mentioned previously.

As you might have guessed, the answer to my original question is:
Ola is a better taxi aggregator than Uber due to the reasons mentioned above.
In terms of star rating, I will rate Ola 4.5/5 and Uber 3.5/5
-------

Ola, nor Uber have paid me to write a review that benefits one of the companies. This review is based on personal views of the author and doesn't mean to offend any company. The review was written and judged in Bangalore, India and the quality of drivers/ service may differ in different parts of India. Any part of this review cannot be copied and published without the consent of the author.
-
Reviews With Rao. All Rights Reserved

Comments

Plan A, Plan B. And Plan C?

I wrote this in May 2026 and then left it sitting in my drafts for six weeks. Partly because it feels more personal than what I usually put online. Partly because writing honestly about uncertainty is uncomfortable when most of us are busy performing certainty. And partly because I wasn’t entirely sure I believed all of it yet. I’m still not sure. But perhaps that’s the point. So, here goes. ----- May 2026 Two years ago, I moved back to India. I hadn't planned on it. In fact, if you'd told me in 2020, when I packed my bags and left Bangalore for France, that I'd be back in four years, I'd have laughed it off as a failure of imagination. The plan had always been to stay abroad and build a career in Europe. The universe, well, had other plans. Four years abroad had been, by most measures, a good run. Two years in France at Sciences Po, a well-paid summer internship in Paris, the youngest funded researcher on a research project between Princeton, Columbi...

My story

I have typed a story. Here you can read my story: The Boy Who Lied And Other Stories. Once upon a time there lived a boy named Arjun. Arjun was not very intelligent. His mother sent him for tuitions. He used to go for Maths, English, Science, Hindi and Kannada tuitions. He did not like studies but loved sports. He sometimes lied and told his friends that if he did a sum wrong in his tuition class he had to stay back and write it 100 times. But this was not true. Everybody used to believe him. He went to school the next day. In school his first period was maths. In maths his teacher taught them multiplication. He was not listening to his teacher. He was busy fiddling with his new ink-pen. His teacher did not know that he was fiddling with his ink-pen. Then, his teacher asked him to do a sum on the board he came near the board and stared at the teacher. The teacher again asked him to do the sum. Then the teacher asked why he did not listen? He told his teacher that she did not explai...

The Great Omani Coastal Route

Route 15 : Muscat-Nizwa The parents, seemingly forever, had been planning a trip to Oman. Why Oman? Well, that’s a question I asked myself too. My dad, in the 90s, spent close to a decade in the UAE but barring a work trip, had never visited Oman. Fast forward to the 21 st century, countless Oman Air flights from India to Europe later, he found himself stranded in Muscat. A ‘technical difficulty’ they said. He visited the Sultan Qaboos Mosque but didn’t get to see much more – it was only a 24-hour layover. However, the constant propaganda he was subjected to via the in-flight entertainment, and the cabin crew he made conversation with, convinced him that the country has a lot to offer. A friend from the UAE, who spoke highly of Oman, apparently also played a role. The parents had their mind set on Oman. The stars aligned and clubbing together a bunch of bank holidays in India, they decided on visiting in April. Unfortunately, or fortunately (the jury is still out), ...

iOS 7 Update for Apple Devices

There is an OS update for iPads, iPhones and iPods (only for some generations). In this update there are many changes. The button on the right side of your iPads and iPhones now can be used to either, lock screen rotation, mute, pause or play your music. Lock Screen: In the older version to unlock the phones/tablet we had to swipe at the bottom part at the screen. Now we can swipe anywhere on the screen. As you can see in the picture, I have circled something at the bottom. If we swipe upwards we get many shortcuts. We can pause, play, change music tracks, increase/decrease volume, put the tablet/phone into airplane mode, Turn On/Off Wifi/Bluetooth/Do Not Disturb Option and mute our device.We can also view the current time in different time zones. The keypad that we see when we unlock the phone is also different.Changing the brightness is also an option.Here is a picture of this shortcut panel and the unlock iPad keypad. Control center Different Keypad in lock screen...

Why I am not writing my remaining ISC 2020 Exam, and you probably shouldn't too

Updates as of last editing this blog: The Supreme Court has asked CBSE to consider scrapping exams. CISCE has issued a press release making exams optional. The petitioner in the Bombay HC, represented by Adv. Arvind Tiwari raised concerns about the transparency of the formula based marking process. They have stressed on the need to be fair and transparent. The methodology to assess one's marks will be finalised, hopefully by Saturday (21st June, 2020), and shared with schools on Saturday. The same will be heard in court on Monday (23rd June, 2020). A communication regarding the extension of dates will be sent to all Principals today. ------------------ It's been almost 3 months. 3 long months since the Council for Indian Secondary Education (CISCE) abruptly postponed all remaining ICSE and ISC exams indefinitely. Barely 3 hours before the commencement of my last ever school exam, CISCE saw it fit to postpone our exams indefinitely and provided no clarity ...

A three episode podcast on the Right to Information Act - an introduction and two anecdotal experiences

I have been noticing a new trend of podcasting which seems to be gaining a lot of traction. In this day and age when people's patience and ability to read long texts is slowly diminishing, podcasts are unarguably a brilliant way to disseminate information. I recorded myself without a pre-written script. Further, please ignore the minimal amounts of ambient noise. This is an amateur attempt at making a podcast and has been made with entry-level recording tools (read: basic earphones with mic). This 3 part series deals with the history and personal anecdotal experiences of filing an RTI under the RTI Act, 2005. Part 1 deals with the history and introduction. Part 2 is with respect to an RTI filed on the expenses incurred on the MPLADS by P.C Mohan, MP from Bengaluru South. Part 3 is an RTI filed on the legality of the Aadhaar card as date of birth (DOB) proof in the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) of Karnataka. Please note that you will be redirected to a third party we...

Life during the COVID-19 lockdown

The past three weeks have impacted people around India in different ways. The migrant labourers and daily wage workers have unarguably been affected the worst. It has been an interesting three weeks in which the concept of privilege was spoken about vastly in the media. Even though the salaried middle class is also affected, their lives have been phenomenally better than, for example, those they employ to clean their houses or wash their dishes. It is at times such as these that I realise how lucky a majority of my friends and I are. While most of the country is suffering (suffering in the real sense of not being able to afford and procure three square meals a day and NOT because a shop ran out of imported cheese) in lockdown, my parents could work from home, without intruding into each other’s personal space and could carry out some, if not most of their work from the comfort of their house, unlike the majority of the country. I have been reading articles about the shortfalls of in...

Sanjith Rao

Search This Blog