Uber eyeing Australia-style peer-to-peer gig in India, but driver needs vastly different | Business News,The Indian Express
However, the Australian and the Indian markets are substantially different for Uber to be able to easily replicate the model here, especially given the dissimilar priorities of the drivers in the two countries.
Notwithstanding the “brash” initial approach taken by Uber to dominate the Australian market, the US ride-hailing platform finds its peer-to-peer service — which allows people with a private car and a driver’s licence to get on the app to offer point-to-point transportation — to be at the heart of its success strategy, like in most other developed markets. Now, it is making a case for this model to be allowed in India as well.
However, the Australian and the Indian markets are substantially different for Uber to be able to easily replicate the model here, especially given the dissimilar priorities of the drivers in the two countries.
Currently, Indian regulations call for drivers to have a commercial registration of their vehicle, a commercial driver’s licence and a host of background checks to be done by the platform before these people are able to operate their four-wheelers with platforms such as Uber and Ola.
Over time, regulations overseeing such platforms have evolved to include a mandatory 12-hour service cap for drivers, identification markers of app-based ride-hailing platform on a car; some states even have commissions monitoring point-to-point transportation that recommend, monitor and enforce safety and other standards.
On the back of these light-touch regulations, Australia has emerged to become one of Uber’s most penetrated market. Weekly active consumer penetration in Australia is around 6.5 per cent, as against 4 per cent in the UK, 3.9 per cent in the US and a meagre 0.5 per cent in India.
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