[somberi]

I live between NYC and Bangalore, India. I have used Uber and its closest competitors (Lyft and Ola respectively), in both cities.

I have a mental questionnaire I go through with 90% of the drivers and here is what I have learnt:

Uber vs Lyft: Drivers make more money with Uber, but rules of engagement are more relaxed in Lyft.

Uber & Ola (not vs): The drivers in India hone in on these three points:

1. They make 3-4 times the money they would if they were employed as a driver in a upper-middle class household (very common in India).

2. They feel respected and think of themselves as "Business owners" now. It is heartening to see how much the "feeling respected" theme repeats itself.

3. They know the good times won't last.

Unlike US, in India, Uber and Ola are do not take a cut from the ride. In fact it is the opposite - They keep the per kilometre cost to the end consumer lower than Auto Rickshaws and compensate the drivers the difference. In fact Uber has taken a "not-for-profit" model in India (and in Beijing).

Citation for not-for-profit: http://blog.uber.com/the-government-way

[krrrh]

I was just in Guangzhou where this is also the case; they have a non-profit/subsidized tier called "People's Uber". A 20 minute ride would come out to the equivalent of $3. The weird thing to me was that there were 5 tiers of service and while there were different cars available for UberX and People's Uber, I couldn't tell the difference in the service. Not sure why anyone would choose UberX when the VC-subsidized version was available.