Cab-hailing services or on the web cab booking market place, led by Ola and Uber, continued to witness the lowest post-Covid recovery price in comparison to on-demand auto and bike-sharing services. While the cab booking segment managed to recover from about 21 per cent (of January 2020 level) in September final year to 54 per cent in January 2021, demand for auto-booking services recovered from 48 per cent to 83 per cent. Likewise, the bike-sharing vertical in the e-mobility sector also posted a wholesome recovery from 40 per cent to 62 per cent throughout the mentioned period. The general sector witnessed recovery from 31 per cent in September to 63 per cent of the pre-Covid level in January 2021, according to the information from the management consulting firm RedSeer for the respective months.
The recovery for the auto and bike segment could largely be attributed to significantly less threat of contraction, mid-to-extended distance travel in a city such as residence-workplace commute considerably nonetheless muted, and the affordability quotient even for shorter commutes amid difficult job market place and salary cuts due to the pandemic. “Unlike cars, bikes are open and from the Covid perspective, indoor is more risky than outdoor. Also, bikes are meant for a shorter duration. So, the chances of contraction are lesser than in cabs. In terms of cabs, lot of customers may have gone back to hometown and may not return until offices resume. This would impact the recovery of four-wheeler booking,” mentioned Yugal Joshi, Vice President at Texas-based consultancy Everest Group had told TheSpuzz Online.
Out of 113 million e-mobility rides, like cabs, autos, bikes, in January 2020, the sector recovered to 71 million rides in January 2021. Post-March-lockdown, the services have been brought to a full halt prior to the government had permitted Ola and Uber to resume services in May in many green and orange zones of the nation. Out of the 113 million rides, 66 million have been cab rides, 19 million belonged to bike-sharing, and 28 million have been auto rides in January 2020. 12 months later, cab rides reached the 36-million mark when auto and bike rides stood at 23 million and 12 million respectively. Back in September, out of 35 million rides, about 15 million have been cab rides, about 8 million rides belonged to bike-sharing and about 12 million rides have been for autos.
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The gross book worth (GBV) of the e-mobility sector, which stood at $259 million in January 2020 has been capable to recover to $164 million in January 2021 with 83 per cent of the worth coming from the prime seven metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and other folks, RedSeer information showed. In comparison to the quantity of rides, 75 per cent came from these metros marginally up from 72 per cent in January 2021.
Importantly, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had issued the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines in November final year that permitted ‘aggregator’ segment mostly controlled by Ola and Uber to charge fare “50% lower than the base fare and a maximum Surge pricing of 1.5 times the base fare.” The guidelines had maintained that this will “promote asset utilisation which has been the fundamental concept of transport aggregation and also substantiate the dynamic pricing principle, which is pertinent in ensuring asset utilisation in accordance with the market forces of demand and supply.”