印度市場遇阻 優步與競爭對手對簿公堂

The race to dominate India’s taxi market has taken a bitter turn with Uber of the US accusing a local rival, OlaCab, of using dirty tricks to disrupt its business.

主宰印度出租車市場的競賽發生敵意轉折，來自美國的優步(Uber)指控當地競爭對手OlaCab用卑鄙手段擾亂其業務。

In a lawsuit filed in the Delhi High Court, the San Francisco-based ride-hailing app alleges that Ola employees made more than 400,000 false bookings, summoning Uber drivers to fetch passengers who never materialised. To do so they created 93,000 fake rider accounts, the complaint alleges.

總部位於舊金山的打車應用優步在德里高等法院提起訴訟，聲稱Ola僱員發出逾40萬張假訂單，召喚優步司機搭載根本不存在的乘客。起訴狀稱，爲此他們註冊了9.3萬個虛假乘客賬戶。

Uber, which has invested $1bn in India over the past nine months, says the bookings cost it nearly $8,000 in cancellation fees to frustrated drivers.

過去九個月裏在印度投資10億美元的優步表示，上述假訂單導致它向煩惱的司機支付近8000美元取消費。

The fake bookings were “intended to block the availability of taxis” and divert business to Ola, resulting in lost revenues to Uber and its drivers, and “frustrating . . . and scaring” them, the petition claims.

這些假訂單“意在封鎖出租車供應”，使業務分流至Ola，這種行爲給優步及其司機帶來營收損失，並導致後者“煩惱……以及懼怕”。

Uber has sought $7.4m in damages from Ola for “deliberately, unlawfully, wrongfully, maliciously, falsely . . . interfering” in its business.

優步請求法庭命令Ola支付740萬美元損害賠償金，以賠償其對優步業務的“故意、非法、不當、惡意、虛假……干擾”。

Ola, which is based in Bangalore, said in a statement the charges were “false and frivolous”. It did not use dirty tricks, it said. “We are categorically denying it.”

總部設在班加羅爾的Ola在一份聲明中表示，優步的指控是“虛假和瑣碎的”。聲明稱，該公司從未使用卑鄙手段。“我們斷然否認這一點。”

But yesterday Jugnoo, a Chandigarh-based company whose tech platform matches autorickshaws with passengers, made allegations against Ola. Samar Singla, co-founder and chief executive, said Jugnoo had received a surge of 20,000 bookings from 800 fake accounts, leading to a waste of time and lost earnings for rickshaw drivers.

但在昨日，總部位於昌迪加爾(Chandigarh)、利用技術平臺在摩托三輪車與乘客之間牽線搭橋的Jugnoo公司也對Ola提出指控。Jugnoo的聯合創始人和首席執行官薩馬•辛拉(Samar Singla)表示，該公司從800個假賬戶接到了蜂擁而來的2萬張訂單，導致摩托車司機浪費了時間，損失了收入。

The company found that nearly all the bookings had come from close to Ola offices — two in the greater Delhi area and one in south India.

該公司發現，幾乎所有訂單都來自靠近Ola辦事處的地方：兩個在大德里地區，還有一個在印度南部。

“We are planning to take suitable action against Ola for the same, but will refrain from doing so if they cease to do this,” Mr Singla said in a statement.

“我們正計劃就此對Ola採取合適行動，但如果他們停止此類行爲，我們將避免走出這一步，”辛拉在一份聲明中表示。

Allegations of dirty tricks highlight the rising stakes for Uber, Ola and other transport providers in India, where just 6 per cent of households own a car .

有關下三濫手段的指控，突顯印度市場的得失對優步、Ola和其他運輸提供商越來越事關重大。印度只有6%的家庭保有汽車。

Uber and Ola are competing fiercely for customers and drivers, many of whom are enrolled on both platforms.

優步和Ola正在激烈競爭客戶和司機，很多人在這兩個平臺上都註冊了。

In its court petition Uber said some of the fake bookings appeared intended to obtain the contact details of its “driver-partners”, who then received “malicious” phone calls and text messages.

優步在向法庭提交的訴狀中表示，一些假訂單似乎意在獲取其合作司機的聯繫資料，這些司機隨後接到“惡意”的電話和短信。

More than 23,000 Indian drivers had left its platform from September to February as a result of harassment, it said. Some email addresses used to set up fake accounts appeared to belong to Ola employees, while many bookings were from the area around Ola offices.

優步稱，這些騷擾導致去年9月至今年2月期間，逾2.3萬名印度司機告別其平臺。用於註冊假賬戶的一些電子郵件地址似乎屬於Ola僱員，同時許多假訂單發自Ola辦事處周圍地區。