Thanks for this! I am landing on Monday and was going to organise a cab through my hotel but it costs £30! Think I’ll try Uber instead!

Thanks for sharing all your tips. I’ve noticed here and also in Bali what you mentioned about the drivers not being the drivers they are meant to be – that is a problem! I can see why they do it to earn more, and I can’t see how Uber will be able to regulate that.

I also often had drivers arrive in the correct car who were not the drivers shown in the app. What I discovered is that because the cab drivers realized they can make more if they run their cars 24 hours a day, they would ask their brothers and cousins and other relatives to come to Bangalore and help them drive. This meant there were drivers who not only were not the driver listed with Uber but were also unfamiliar with the layout of the city, which roads were one-way, and so forth. I would report them to Uber every time it happened, but it was such a widespread problem that I’m not sure how they dealt with it.

That being said, however, Uber was leagues ahead of Ola when I was living there. The Ola app was so terrible to use, and the drivers – of both cabs and rickshaws alike – were always super rude and would almost always tell me their app wasn’t working and they couldn’t accept my card payment. Uber was the lesser of two evils, and Uber Pool generally worked out pretty well for me.

I agree with Julie’s comment above that it’s difficult to use as a tourist without a good knowledge of the city they are visiting. I had good luck in Bombay and Bangalore because I know the cities well, but it was a little more difficult in Hyderabad because I didn’t know landmarks.

Glad to hear the airports have pickup zones, though! That’s a huge improvement.

Hey Lauren, awesome!!! I hadn’t seen these signs, but then that’s probably because I’m always connecting onward to Goa. So, for other people reading this, when you ordered your Uber in Mumbai, the drivers were already there waiting so you didn’t have to wait and call and such? Sounds perfect!

Good to know! I haven’t been to Bangalore in ages!

That is an excellent tip Divya, thank you! Was just discussing my boyfriend’s arrival in Bangalore (later this month). Can you tell me a little bit more about where Uber picks up at the Bangalore airport? That would cut out a lot of the issues with getting an Uber (for him).

Haha yes this is all so true!! I have had some drivers be a little more on it, but this happened to me in Bangalore and I couldn’t get anyone to translate (was on my way to airport) finally gave up and took hotel taxi :/

I’ve used Uber in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. With Uber in India, there’s no such thing as tapping the app and having a car show up without at least one phone call. They rely on calling customers to guide them and being a tourist just doesn’t facilitate that level of knowledge about a city. I honestly believe they call because most of the drivers cannot read a map. So I don’t know how to guide them, and they can’t find me on the map. It’s really frustrating.

For example, I will open the app, request a car and then watch on the map as the car doesn’t move. Then, after about 10 minutes, when I realize it’s *not* traffic holding him up, I will call the driver and only then will the driver start driving toward me.

That’s assuming the driver speaks good English, which many do not, and the phone connection is good, which it often is not, and that I’m not standing on a street corner with dozens of honking cars and motorcycle engines, which I often am.

Then, the driver will get closer and call again, asking where I am. I’ve begged passers-by on more than one occasion to talk with a driver on my behalf.

Transport in a big city is such a hassle. I started using Uber as an alternative to taxis because it cuts out a lot of the taxi issues but it’s really not that much better.