Fed up with multiple cancellations by Uber/Ola drivers? That too after a lengthy interview of where you want to go, despite having told the app… just that? Imagine a ride-hailing service with 0 cancellations!
Frustrated with ridiculous markups on your route to the office because of a light drizzle? Imagine not having to pay any surge charge. Ever!
These are just some of the reasons why I started using BluSmart in early 2022, but there was so much more I learned about the company on my journey (I must make at least one pun per article, please bear with me) that made me a hardcore BluSmart loyalist! Here’s what’s different about them:
Tenet #1: All-electric fleet
This isn’t just an interim or starting strategy but the very vision of the founders. This has multifold benefits for every stakeholder:
Benefits for retail customers (you and me)
A unique experience
I call it “the silence of luxury” since electric vehicles are quieter than a gentle breeze and smoother than a baby’s bum! This is due to them having no traditional combustion engines and given that only about 5% of passenger cars are electric at present, it’s got a strong novelty factor.
This may even help drive awareness & intent towards purchasing them, despite EVs being 25-30% pricier than non-EVs (also called ICE vehicles - Internal Combustion Engine vehicles). While hard to measure at present but based on my conversations with an (admittedly small) number of BluSmart users, nearly 70% said they might consider buying an EV whenever (and if) they do buy a four-wheeler.
Feel good factor about carbon savings
There’s intuitive knowledge that you’re saving the environment by taking an electric vehicle, but BluSmart has gone a step further. You get to know just how much carbon emissions you’ve saved across your trips so far.
Note that Instagram & LinkedIn are featured as a Blu customer is likely to match psychologically & behaviorally with the users of these platforms. Not saying that all Instagram & LinkedIn users are going to be BluSmart users, just that a BluSmart user is likely to be more active on Instagram or LinkedIn user than say Snapchat, Whatsapp or Facebook. One thing common between these 2 social media networks is that a large population of these users is creating or consuming content aimed at influencing others instead of just entertaining. Moreover, while being an active creator on Instagram is more main stream, doing so on LinkedIn is still an early adopter/innovator trait, which is precisely what a BluSmart user is likely to be.
Benefits for the business customers (corporates, institutions, non-profits)
Meeting Decarbonization goals
Many companies have announced goals to achieve net-zero(cutting greenhouse emissions and re-absorbing remaining greenhouse emissions such that the enterprise doesn’t add any net new emissions in the environment) by 2050, with some being as ambitious as trying to achieve net-zero by 2030.
BluSmart claims to even provide a monthly Carbon Saving Report to their business customers which would go a long way in GHC accounting, a nascent but fast-growing field at present. Therefore, replacing a corporate fleet used for employee pickups, airport transfers, exec company provided cars, with BluSmart would be a great step towards sustainability for these organizations.
Green Marketing & Brand Value Enhancement
Imagine airport pickups for an important clients/prospect in a sustainable, impeccably smooth cab with an extremely professional driver. First impressions matter!
Specially for organizations that truly commit to sustainability or organizations belonging to an industry where sustainability initiatives really matter such as energy, utilities, textile. This truly shows commitment towards sustainability & carbon-consciousness end-to-end and would help create that brand image both internally as well as externally.
Benefits for BluSmart
Lower cost running costs
Fuel costs about INR 9-10/km whereas this would be as low as INR 1.2/km as per this estimate. In fact this can be brought down to nil if solar energy is harnessed. That said, the upfront cost is significant, making scaling up a capital-intensive venture and the insurance is currently higher for electric vehicles compared to traditional vehicles.
Lower maintenance cost
Due to significantly lower moving parts the maintenance cost can be less than half that of a traditional fuel car as per this estimate.
Opportunity for vertical integration
Given that BluSmart likely operates one of the largest Electric Vehicle fleets in the Delhi NCR region at present, they have a reliable demand for electric charging. This in turn, gives them strong incentive to also create the charging ecosystem. BluSmart currently has 1150+ charging stations through what looks like a mix of self owned and third party partner-owned charging stations. At present it looks like these stations are being used exclusively for the BluSmart fleet, but in future, can even offer charging capabilities to retail customers - note, another monetization source.
If BluSmart does choose to go the retail charging station route, it could further catalyze the adoption of EVs in India, not just for ride-hailing but also as owned vehicles as increasing the number of charging stations could very well be the most important factor in increasing the penetration of Electric vehicles in the market (source).
Benefits for the investors
BluSmart raised $25 million led by BP ventures in Sep 2021. This was the world’s largest Series A investment in the mobility sector till date. As an energy company focused on decarbonization & sustainability, electric mobility is a great investment avenue to understand the market dynamics, share in profits, as well as contribute in building a greener brand image for bp itself.
Tenet #2: Separate asset ownership from driver-partners
Unlike Uber/Ola where the cabs are traditionally owned by the drivers, BluSmart owns the cabs. This makes perfect sense especially if you consider that EVs cost 25-30% more than their traditional fuel counterparts and the charging eco-system is very nascent at the moment. It may not be affordable for an entry-level driver nor would they have easy access to charging stations. Here’s how this is a key differentiator for the different stakeholders.
Differentiator for Retail Customers
Standardized experience since the car maintenance and cleaning is taken care of by BluSmart directly
No trip denials as the drivers are more like salaried employees who log in and log out at specific times & are assigned a trip instead of owner-partners who choose their trips & decide their hours
Differentiator for BluSmart
Better monitoring & compliance because the driver is aware that the average driving speed, rash driving incidents, and any accidents/damages can be inspected while the car charges. Moreover, as per a driver partner’s statement, there are clear incentives and punitive charges laid out to encourage good behavior.
Ability to offer reliability to all customers, which is a major USP compared to the competitors
The proof is in the pudding
Here are the app store rankings for the 3 ride-hailing services being referred in this article.
BluSmart
Consistently high ratings across both Android & iOS across 30K reviews. Miniscule 1* and 2* reviews.
Uber
Ola
While Uber & Ola are still above 4* simply because they are the category killers, the number of customers having bad experiences has significantly gone up with a not-so-surprising number of 1* reviews owing to disgruntled customers.
Some excerpts from a couple of Vox-pops I did. Some of these have been paraphrased to English.
Uber/Ola Diver Partners
“I’m getting by. The commission keeps coming down, the incentives are very less now compared to earlier.”
“I have been with them for 5 years now. It was great earlier, I was able to send my kids to good schools, my social status also improved. I was able to scale and now I own 2-3 cars which I lease to other drivers to drive. I drive sometimes only nowadays. But people joining now, will find it very hard to achieve similar results or it will take them significantly longer. Every day new such players are entering the market and offering better rates, but then they are also disappearing quickly.”
Uber/Ola Riders
“I have to be mentally prepared for an interview and multiple rejections like a job interview rather than to peacefully reach my destination. Frequent denials of A/C being turned on to increase the mileage of the vehicle to make more money. And in general, half the fleet is poorly maintained.”
“Back when Uber launched, it was a game changer. No more struggling with fare negotiation. But funnily enough, we’ve come full circle. I’ve had all sorts of crazy experiences where the driver has cancelled after I came to the cab, almost coercing me to take a cash only ride or asked to pay higher than the amount. I frequently have to explain the pick drop location. I still like the convenience, overall, but it’s more like there just isn’t a better option.
“Once innovative, these ride hailing options have now become a necessary evil. A lot of people in our generation didn’t buy cars because we’re so used to ride-hailing but I don’t know, I’m rethinking my personal decision atleast. It may be overall cheaper for an infrequent commuter like me to keep taking cabs only, but even the convenience & freedom of owning your car, has a value, I’ve recently started realizing this.”
BluSmart Driver Partners
“I am seeing so many people now join Blu. I like that I can just choose my slot and don’t have to worry about the car. I log in, I go where the app takes me, the customers are usually so happy they even give tips.”
“I get much more salary here than the commission I was making at Ola. I joined Ola at its peak when it used to pay really really well. But then the commissions came down. Car maintenance, fuel costs and such expenses actually eat up a lot of the profit. You may think oh, I’ve earned this much today and get happy but at the end of the month, you do the math and realize, you didn’t actually make all that much money. There need to be better incentives for drivers.”
BluSmart customers
“I really enjoy the smooth and premium rides with extremely polite and happy drivers. No questions as to where do I need to go and the driver denying to go there. I like that I’m reducing my carbon footprint while doing something I was doing anyway - going from point A to B. The only caveat is that I have to book much in advance to get the desired slots for office pickups and dropoffs.”
“Wow! What an experience. I am a full fledged advocate of BluSmart. I got recommended by a friend and once I took their services there was seriously no going back. The driver came 15 mins earlier, didn’t bother me with any phone calls, was in an impeccable uniform, OPENED THE CAR DOOR FOR ME!, gave me a sanitizer, was wearing a mask the whole time, greeted me with a namaste. The AC was on full blast to a point where I, who usually asks for it to be cranked up, had to ask the driver to please increase the temperature. It was my first experience in an electric vehicle ever, and it’s just fantastic. The cars are very new, and that also contributes to the experience. The best part was, this almost red-carpet like treatment wasn’t just done for the first time, I’ve seen this continue for about 4 months now.”
Of course, not all is rosy about the BluSmart experience. They still have multiple issues to tackle
Need for Advanced Booking
Due to a limited (but growing) fleet, the rides usually need to be booked much in advance, which doesn’t fit a lot of users’ needs. Moreover, peak office commute slots are almost always booked out while there’s excess capacity in non-peak hours. BluSmart has taken steps to offer Express Rides between 11 am - 4 pm to better absorb this excess capacity.
More Driver friendly policies
Some driver policies like once they select a time slot for the week, they must turn up every single day of the entire week to get the pay (as mentioned by a driver, but couldn’t be verified via publicly available information). While, yes, this enables predictability, but customer centricity shouldn’t come at the cost of driver satisfaction either.
Copycat offering by competition
Around September 2022, Uber came up with its Uber Electric offering with pretty much the same rules - Uber-owned electric fleet & pre-scheduled rides at comparable rates, which could pose a major threat to BluSmart. What’s more, Uber has the flexibility of offering EVs to Uber Go/Premium bookings as well which in fact results in customer delight and load balancing, something BluSmart cannot leverage given their core vision of an all-electric fleet.
That said, BluSmart has gone south, in a good way! They’ve expanded from Delhi NCR to Bangalore, a city heavily plagued with traffic woes. It would be interesting to watch how this unfurls.
Have you tried BluSmart yet? Do share your thoughts/experiences in the comments below!
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