The arrest of an Uber driver this week for allegedly performing a lewd act while ferrying a woman in his vehicle has reinforced the importance of every passenger knowing how to use the security features offered by app cabs.

Uber and Ola, the two leading app-based taxi aggregators, say their processes are geared to ensure passenger safety along with convenience and comfort. But while app cabs have become the transport of choice for many in Calcutta after years of enduring the ramshackle yellow taxis and their rude drivers, it's not all hunky-dory as the incident involving an Uber driver proves.

The woman whose complaint led to the driver's arrest apparently didn't use the "SOS" button built into the Uber app, choosing to use the "Feedback" option instead at the end of her trip. It couldn't be confirmed if the woman was unaware of the SOS feature.

Metro highlights how Uber and Ola's security features work and what passengers need to do when a ride goes wrong.

Uber

SOS button: This feature appears in the app the moment a trip starts. In an emergency, the SOS button is the passenger's best friend. Press it and a call goes to the police helpline 100 and an alert to Uber.

"There is a dedicated incident response team (based in Hyderabad) for SOS calls and they are reachable 24x7. They are trained by American safety experts. The team tracks and handles all SOS calls and feedback from customers on assault cases and accidents," said Ashwin Dias, general manager of Uber in Calcutta.

The response team gets in touch with the passenger immediately after receiving the alert, investigates the case and assists the passenger in filing an FIR, if necessary. "In addition to this, we are piloting a system with Bidhannagar police that includes realtime tracking of a trip and driver details in an emergency," Dias said.

When a person dials 100 - while using Uber, a passenger needs to only press the SOS button -the call is routed through the nearest mobile tower to the nearest landline exchange, from where it is forwarded to the nearest police control room.

If a passenger uses the SOS button while passing through Salt Lake and the system works, the call would go to the Bidhannagar police commissionerate's control room and not Lalbazar or Barrackpore. But if the telecom service provider fails to forward the call to the nearest landline exchange or BSNL doesn't relay it to the designated police station, the process could go wrong.

There are instances galore of Calcuttans failing to reach the police by dialling 100 in an emergency because of glitches in the system.

Ratings: Every Uber driver is assigned a rating on a scale of five, based on the average of how many stars he has been awarded by passengers. A passenger who has requested a pick-up can see the name, photograph and rating of the driver who has accepted the request. "If you don't like the rating, you can immediately cancel the request," said Dias.

According to the company, it trains drivers with a poor rating (the cut-off differs from city to city) to get better and takes them off the fleet if their performance doesn't improve.

A five-star rating means "extremely good", four is "good", three is "not so good", two is "not a great experience" and one denotes "a bad experience". If a driver scores a below-average rating (pegged at 4.4 in Calcutta), he is flagged, waitlisted and called for re-training.

Send status: Riders can share the details of a trip with up to five people by using this feature, which was called ShareMyETA until a recent update. Those with whom the details have been shared can track on a computer or a smartphone the progress of the taxi on the map.

They will also get the driver's photo, name and vehicle registration number.

Feedback: Uber doesn't have a helpline. A customer can provide feedback on the ratings page that appears in the app after a trip or email supportkolkata@uber.com.

Ola

SOS button: Pressing the SOS button sends text messages to the mobile phone numbers of family and friends stored within the app along with an alert to the company.

"Once we receive any alert about an incident, we first verify it through the emergency response team. If the allegation is found to be true, the services of the driver are terminated. We cooperate with the customer and help him or her file an FIR with the police too," said a spokesperson for the company.

GPS: Ola uses two kinds of GPS - the one in the mobile phone of the driver and a tamper-proof hardwired GPS device in the vehicle. According to the company, each driver has an account manager and GPS data is tracked realtime in the control room.

Share trip details: "As soon as you take an Ola cab, a link is sent through SMS to the family members and friends of the rider through which they can track the progress of the cab in realtime," the spokesperson said.

This option can be switched off in the app if the passenger doesn't want to be tracked.

Complaints over phone: Ola has a customer support number (033-3553355).

A passenger can also lodge a complaint by writing to support@olacabs.com.

What app-based safety features have you used and how did they work? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com