When Uber India Head turned driver for a day!

Brut India

Imagine booking an Uber and getting picked up by Uber India’s President, Prabhjeet Singh. We chatted with him about why he got behind the wheel, his experience and captured some pretty incredible reactions from riders he drove. Check it out!

Transcript

00:00Hi, good afternoon.

00:01Please settle down.

00:02My name is Prabhjee.

00:03I drive the car every few months

00:04so that I can understand what's happening with the drivers.

00:07Today I will be your driver.

00:20I honestly didn't believe this.

00:22Very new thing to do.

00:23Probably like one of the first rides in many, many weeks.

00:27And they didn't ask you the destination.

00:29And they didn't ask you where the drop is.

00:31And you said, I'm on my way.

00:32And I was like very impressed with you already.

00:34I just googled your name.

00:36Yeah, did you manage to find my profile?

00:38You're from IIM Ahmedabad.

00:39That's right, ma'am.

00:40I'm also from IIM Lucknow.

00:42Oh, you are?

00:42Oh, good to meet you.

00:43Which year?

00:442016, very much due to the rain.

00:46Oh, wow.

00:51Okay, now this is funny.

00:53Hi, I hope I get a good rating.

00:58Thank you, ma'am.

00:58All the best.

01:00Bye, kid.

01:01See you.

01:03I'm going to remember this day.

01:04This is very good.

01:05No, no, me too.

01:06I think it's a privilege.

01:07You will not remember me.

01:08I will remember you.

01:08No, no, it's a privilege to have met you.

01:11I'd love to take a selfie with you.

01:12So, how's your on-ground driving experience been so far?

01:29It was a very fascinating day.

01:31The initial stress of when the first trip will come,

01:34the gap between trips when certain requests are not coming,

01:37worry that I may get a trip in a location,

01:39right when actually I'm looking for a break.

01:41I imagine which many of our drivers go through on a daily basis.

01:44It also gives me some insights, right?

01:46They might go back to the team and hopefully work on some of these.

01:49I can't not ask you this, but what's up with Uber's cancellations?

01:54Did you call any rider and tell him, sir, where to go?

01:57Thankfully, I didn't.

01:58And I know I could sense the relief on the rider's face

02:03when I kind of met them post that.

02:05This is an issue.

02:06I believe that technology solutions have to solve for it.

02:09For example, compensating drivers for long pickups.

02:11In certain cases, showing destination.

02:14Maybe we can do it for certain trips versus for all trips.

02:17My commitment is this will get fixed.

02:19What's the number one challenge that you're trying to solve for your drivers?

02:24Drivers who associate with platforms like Uber should have a safety net.

02:28So, for example, insurance cover.

02:30Access to medical consultation when the pandemic is on

02:33so that they feel that there is somebody also supporting them.

02:37Happy drivers make happy customers.

02:39We need to be able to get to that.

02:41Do you ever use an Uber personally?

02:43Always.

02:43Okay.

02:44As a rider, as a consumer, I am literally using Uber multiple times a day.

02:50I do hope my rider rating could have been higher though.

02:53What was it?

02:56It is much lower than I would like.

02:58It's actually low 4.6s.

03:00Okay.

03:00And...

03:01So, what's good?

03:03I would love to be closer.

03:04My driver rating is 5.

03:06But obviously, I take more trips as a rider.

03:08And I like to believe that the reason that sometimes may happen is I may end up

03:12being a more vocal critic or being more proactive in my feedback.

03:16Obviously, as a core custodian of the business.

03:19But I'm working on it.

03:21So, what kind of measures do you take when it comes to ensuring safety for all of your users?

03:26At Uber, we look at safety not just for on rider side.

03:29We also obsess about safety for drivers.

03:31On the rider side, we have rolled out a bunch of features which are technology-led.

03:35Sharing your trip, being able to get all the information about the driver.

03:39After the trip, if you have an issue, being able to reach out to the helpline

03:43in case of a safety issue.

03:44On the driver side, we have also replicated similar features.

03:46For example, today morning, I started driving.

03:48I shared my live trip tracking with my family.

03:52Where do you think Uber is headed in the next few years?

03:55We have to go deeper into serving a much larger part of India.

03:58We are in about 100 cities.

03:59Yes.

04:00No reason why we should not be operating in 300 plus cities.

04:02It's been a pleasure talking with you, sir.

04:04Thank you so much for joining us.

04:05And with the tea done, we can now go back to driving soon.

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