India’s urban mobility scene has for years been predicated on a single notion: availability. The measure of success was simple enough: as long as you could make a cab booking with little trouble and drivers were available, the system was doing its job. Yet you can no longer turn a blind eye to what has become the true headaches of the business. Cancellations are now an everyday occurrence. You will wait for your pickup, and when the car does show up, it may well be in less-than-ideal shape. One ride is never quite like the next. Before you knew it, most people had come to terms with it all, just another fact of life in the city.
The old way of thinking, however, is giving way to a new one today. These days, a customer wants more than convenience; he or she is after reliability and the peace of mind that comes with it. You only have to think about an airport run: if you are late, you could miss your flight. An office-hours cancellation can ruin your whole workday. And there is nothing comfortable about a harrowing ride home in the wee hours of the night. Mobility is such an integral part of our lives now that people are placing a higher premium on trust and consistency than on some discount or special offer.
Changing Scenario: Experience-led approach
You can see this shift in how people approach selecting a mobility platform. It is not simply a matter of “Can I put in for a cab?” anymore; what they are asking is whether they can count on the experience to be there when they need it. There is a growing preference among customers for a professional driver, a properly cared-for, spotless vehicle, and a ride that shows up as promised. Reliability is now worth more than any amount of flashy advertising to working professionals, families, frequent travellers or women on the commute.
Then again, the whole notion of mobility has taken on a more emotional quality these days. Folks want an experience that is calm and stress-free. They do not want to get into a car with the niggling worry of a cancellation or some poor behaviour on the part of the driver. That is where operational discipline comes in. Sure, technology will handle your booking and point you in the right direction, but the customer’s actual experience is down to the finer points: how well the driver is trained, the quality of the car, and the support you get. The companies that have those fundamentals in order are the ones that will earn your trust over the long haul.
EV Mobility: Holistic Approach to Urban Travel
Then there is the matter of EV-based transportation, another key force in this change. One could say electric vehicles (EVs) have moved beyond being seen as just an eco-friendly choice; they are offering a distinctly better product to customers. There is a more refined quality to an EV: the cabin is quieter, the drive smoother, the interior cleaner. For many passengers, it is a more premium and comfortable experience. On the operational side, running an EV fleet tends to make you more organised. You can’t be haphazard when you must plan for vehicle uptime, charging and route efficiency with any degree of precision. Better systems mean more consistent service, and over the coming years, that mix of solid operations and EV mobility will no doubt define urban transport in India.
More mobility companies are coming to understand that the problem is not a lack of cabs for their customers to find, but rather a deficit of trust in the overall experience. These days, urban travel has its share of headaches: from flaky service and run-down vehicles to safety worries and the like, with cancellations being a particular sore point. So, there is a move away from just putting people in a car and onto offering something you can count on, something comfortable and without the stress. The modern customer expects a ride to be as smooth and predictable as if he/she were behind the wheel of their own car with a driver they can rely on.
Conclusion
You won’t be able to tell the future of mobility by looking at fleet numbers, app downloads or pricing alone. What will define it is trust. The modern customer expects a ride that is cleaner and safer, one they can rely on with some certainty. They want to have faith that the cab will show up when it should and put their minds at ease for a smooth trip from beginning to end. In today’s urban landscape, an on-time ride with no cancellations has moved beyond being an operational target; it is what earns you a customer’s loyalty.
by: Sahil Jindal, Co-founder Trevel and Managing Director of the Jindal Group
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