Green SM India First Ride: The BluSmart Replacement We Desperately Need?

Since BluSmart stopped operating, Delhi NCR users have lost one of the few cab services that felt genuinely dependable. Uber and Rapido still work for regular rides, but cancellations, inconsistent car quality and last-minute uncertainty remain frustrating. This is especially true for airport runs, late-night rides or pickup points where waiting around is not ideal.

This was not a media demo or a pre-arranged preview ride. We booked the cab through the Green SM app for a regular Gurgaon ride.

Green SM Limo Green First Ride Experience

The Limo Green cab is hard to miss. Green SM’s cyan-green exterior colour catches attention immediately, and the MPV-like body makes it look more substantial than a regular sedan cab. It does not look conventionally premium, but it does look distinctive and purpose-built for fleet use.

The cabin, however, made a good first impression. It was clean, fresh and almost new. The touchscreen showed that the cab had covered only around 150km when we were picked up. Apart from some dust from the previous passenger’s shoes, the interior felt well maintained.

The Limo Green does not feel luxurious inside, but it does feel better built and more premium than most regular app-based cabs. The cabin is spacious, practical and comfortable. The overall experience is closer to a premium fleet cab than a regular city cab, though something like an Uber Black Hyryder may still feel more upmarket in terms of cabin ambience. 

Green SM Limo Green Comfort And Space

The Limo Green works well as an easy 6-seater. The 2nd-row seats can slide forward and back in a 60:40 split, and the backrest recline angle can also be adjusted separately. This helps free up space for the 3rd row without making the 2nd row feel cramped.

The 2nd-row seat base felt a little high off the floor, likely because of the battery packaging. However, under-thigh support and headroom were not an issue for a 5ft 7in passenger. The seats were well cushioned, and the fabric upholstery actually felt more suitable for our climate than premium-looking leatherette covers.

All 7 occupants, including the driver, get height-adjustable headrests. We did not sit in the 3rd row, but it looked usable for adults. Since the 2nd-row seats slide forward, passengers can create enough knee room for the last row.

Boot space, however, is limited with all 3 rows up. Since Green SM will likely run these cabs with all 3 rows available most of the time, the Limo Green works better as a people mover than a full airport luggage hauler. For airport trips, it should be comfortable for 3 or 4 passengers with luggage. But 5 or 6 passengers with suitcases could be tight.

Green SM Limo Green Ride Quality And AC

The ride quality was impressive for a fleet cab. Our route included smooth highway sections, normal city roads, broken tarmac and heavily cratered gullies. The Limo Green felt plush without becoming floaty, and the damping kept outside noise well controlled.

Refinement was another strong point. The cab was very silent from the passenger seat, with very little motor noise. Combined with the well-damped ride, it felt calm and relaxed in a way most regular app-based cabs do not.

The AC performance was also strong. Despite the large windows and windscreen letting in a lot of light, the cabin cooled well in Gurgaon heat. Second-row passengers get twin AC vents between the front seats, while 3rd-row passengers get roof-mounted AC vents on both sides. The 3rd-row AC also has a separate roof-mounted control switch.

The Limo Green Feels Too Large For Daily Cab Use

The Limo Green’s size is both its strength and its weakness. It gives passengers more space and comfort than most regular cabs, but it also feels large for a daily cab replacement.

This became obvious near the drop point, where the gullies were narrow and cratered. The cab remained comfortable, but it felt too large for tight Gurgaon lanes. Since the car would have blocked the road while we completed payment after the ride ended, we had to get down slightly ahead of the exact drop point and then pay the driver.

For short city rides and tight pickup points, a smaller EV - something closer to a Tata Tigor EV or Citroen eC3 in size - would make more sense. Even our driver felt Green SM would eventually need smaller cars if it wants wider adoption beyond airport runs and group rides.

Green SM Driver Training And Safety

The driver wore a Green SM uniform and greeted us at pickup. He told us he had gone through a 4-day training course and was specifically trained to drive smoothly. Interestingly, he had also worked with BluSmart earlier, where smooth driving was encouraged as well. That showed in the ride experience. Acceleration and braking felt calm rather than hurried or jerky.

The safety setup also looked more serious than what we usually see in regular app-based cabs. The app showed the driver’s name, rating and vehicle details, and the trip screen had an SOS button. Inside the cab, we noticed 2 cameras - 1 pointed at the driver and another pointed towards the cabin. The driver-facing camera unit had what looked like IR sensors, likely for driver monitoring or drowsiness detection. There were also 4 physical SOS buttons inside the cab, placed on the B- and C-pillars.

The cabin-facing camera looked more like a wide-angle dash camera than a high-quality surveillance camera. It felt like a safety feature first, especially in a fleet cab. However, Green SM should ideally clarify how cabin footage is stored, who can access it and whether passengers can raise privacy-related concerns.

Green SM App Experience Needs Work

The Green SM app is already live, and we booked the ride through it. The app showed the estimated arrival time and the cab’s live location after booking. Our cab took around 10 minutes to arrive.

The biggest positive is that once the cab was assigned, the driver could not cancel the trip. That is a key BluSmart-like touch. For users tired of last-minute cancellations on Uber and Rapido, this alone makes Green SM interesting.

However, the app experience still needs work. The map and destination search do not feel as intuitive as Uber or Rapido yet. Several places we searched for did not show up correctly, so we had to manually drop the pin on the map.

 

Even Delhi Airport search was not smooth. In Uber, typing Delhi Airport usually brings up terminal and airline-based suggestions. In Green SM’s app, the destination defaulted to Terminal 3, while searching specifically for T1 or T2 was not straightforward.

 

The driver used Google Maps for navigation, and the Green SM driver app sent the destination to Google Maps after the ride started. That made the weak passenger-side destination search feel even stranger. If driver-side navigation eventually relies on Google Maps, Green SM should ideally make the passenger-side destination search more Google Maps-like as well.

Green SM Cab Pricing And Payment Experience

Our Green SM ride cost Rs. 320 for 6.81km and took around 20min. The fare shown at the time of booking stayed the same at the end of the ride. Green SM showed the full fare upfront, so there were no surprise charges after the trip.

For the same route around the same time, Green SM was significantly more expensive than Uber Go, Go Sedan, Premier, UberXL and Premier XL. It was cheaper than Uber Black, but clearly priced closer to the premium end of the cab market than regular daily rides.

Payment was still fairly basic in our ride. The app does have an option to add a credit card, but we did not try it. For our ride, the app showed Cash/QR as the payment mode, and we paid the driver directly through UPI.

So, Green SM is not something we would use for regular daily cab rides at its current pricing. Uber, Rapido and other cab options are still more affordable for routine trips. But Green SM makes sense as a secondary option for situations where reliability matters more than saving money - airport runs, late-night travel, unsafe pickup areas, scheduled rides or important meetings.

Green SM Charging And Driver Model

The driver told us VinFast have installed chargers around the city, and the app directs drivers to the nearest charger when needed. Trips are not accepted automatically when the car’s charge is low, which sounds similar to BluSmart’s charge-management logic.

However, unlike BluSmart’s dedicated hub-based charging model, Green SM’s chargers are public-facing chargers rather than closed fleet hubs. This could save time for drivers because they do not need to check into a hub, hand over the key, wait for a hub manager and repeat the process after charging. It should also help Green SM keep operating costs lower.

The driver claimed the Limo Green could run for around 450km between charges. In his limited pre-launch usage, he said he charged the cab once every 2 days despite doing roughly 10-hour daily shifts. We will wait for VinFast or Green SM to confirm official range, battery and charging details, but this suggests range anxiety may not be a major concern for typical city-duty cycles.

The driver also told us Green SM already has many cabs parked at its main depot, waiting for new drivers. If true, driver onboarding could be one of the early bottlenecks rather than fleet size.

Green SM Vs BluSmart Vs Refex Mobility

This comparison matters because BluSmart was not just another cab app. For many users, it solved the most irritating parts of app-based mobility - last-minute cancellations, dirty cars, rough driving and uncertain airport pickups.

For context, one of us has also experienced BluSmart from the driver-partner side. From both sides, BluSmart’s biggest strengths were dependable bookings, clean cars, polite drivers, fair pricing and the fact that drivers could not casually cancel assigned rides. Green SM, at least from this first ride, seems to understand the same pain points. The no driver-side cancellation policy is the biggest BluSmart-like advantage here. The trained driver setup, clean EV fleet, upfront pricing and comfort-focussed ride experience also help.

Green SM is not entering a completely empty space, though. Refex Mobility already offers a reliable EV cab service, and we have used it twice - once in a Tigor EV and once in an MG ZS EV. However, Refex appears to focus more on corporate users. Its app is open to regular users too, but slots fill up quickly. It also works more like a slot-based service, while Green SM offers a “ride now” flow.

That makes Green SM important. If it can offer BluSmart-like reliability with better immediate availability, it can become a useful option for Delhi NCR users who are willing to pay extra for peace of mind.

Green SM India First Ride Verdict

Green SM does not feel like a proven BluSmart replacement yet. One short pre-launch ride is not enough to declare that. The app still needs work, the Limo Green feels too large for tight city use, and the fare is too high for regular daily rides.

But the foundation is promising. The cab was clean, spacious, silent and comfortable. The AC worked well in Gurgaon heat. The driver was trained, polite and smooth. The fare was transparent. Most importantly, once the cab was assigned, the driver could not casually cancel the ride.

That last point matters more than it may seem. For regular city rides, Green SM may remain a secondary option at its current pricing. But for airport runs, late-night travel, unsafe pickup areas or situations where reliability matters more than saving money, Green SM already makes sense.

If Green SM can improve app search, expand availability, onboard enough drivers, add smaller EVs and maintain driver quality at scale, it could become the BluSmart replacement many users have been waiting for.

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