When they were launched, the then Web-based and now app-based cab companies had come in as a breath of fresh air for consumers dog tired of what they were having to deal with. But just a few years down the line, many consumers are now sobering up to the contention that they (the companies) are pretty much like the errant auto-wallahs and callous taxi-drivers that they had promised to replace.
Not a day goes by without an adverse report on these cab companies, be it Meru or Ola, be it Uber or Taxi For Sure. The Delhi government had cracked down on a number of these companies after a passenger was raped by an Uber driver in December 2014, and it was only on Monday last that the Jharkhand government lifted a ban on Ola. Incidents abound while governments are still grappling with a new form of service that they don't where to fit in, or how to tackle either, for that matter.
Earlier this week, the Karnataka transport department seized over 100 airport taxis in a well-publicised drive that was described as having been carried out in the backdrop of incessant complaints by passengers. It was found that these cabs were operating without valid permits, and without installing digital meters, besides collecting fares higher than those stipulated by the department.
The drive had been coming for a while, and took off from the raids that were carried out on Ola Cabs in March this year. The transport department had at that time found several irregularities, including extra fares being charged at different times of the day. The company had dismissed the irregularities as "some confusion", and asserted that it had a zero tolerance policy towards drivers misbehaving with customers or fleecing them.
This writer, who has himself encountered many errant drivers, decided to take a rain-check. Experiences are many, and different people have different experiences to narrate.
Says Sujit Pavithran, “By and large, my experience with Uber has been the best. Ola has been pretty poor with confirmed cabs not turning up, and drivers feigning ignorance of your confirmation when you call them. Also, Ola has actually charged me a 'peak time surcharge' at 12:00 midnight. Taxi For Sure was so bad in this regard that I uninstalled the app. I use Meru only when absolutely necessary as they are very expensive and have a 'flag down fee'. All-in-all, Uber is fantastic in terms of rates, ease of use, reliability and driver quality.” Pavithran, incidentally, is Director of Suricksha Infotech Pvt ltd, a city-based start-up which is developing a mobile safety app for auto commuters.
The issue of confirmation and subsequent cancellation by the cab drivers crops up time and again. PR executive Sharmee Roy recollects a forgettable incident, “Sometime in March-end I had booked a cab for the airport. The day I was to leave, the cab details... rather, the cab drivers were changed as many as four times. As a result, the (designated) taxi reached my doorstep almost an hour late. To top it, once at the airport, the cab guy wanted extra money because of the traffic (on the way).”
The allegations about rigging and over-charging are common among consumers. Says a visibly-irked brand consultant Susmita Das Gupta, “Ola charges 2.2 times on all their charges at any time of the day, and calls it a ‘peak time’ charge. And most of the meters are rigged in both Ola and Taxi For Sure.”
Upali Roy’s grouse is more elaborate. She wrote to Ola Cabs detailing her experience and even posted it on the company’s Facebook page, which she claims was deleted. Roy had complained that at any point during the day or night, no cabs or autos are ever available for hire. While the GPS tracker shows multiple vehicles around a particular area, none would be available when it comes to actually booking them. "After consistently trying for long periods, while showing many available vehicles nearby, your service does not manage to contact any of the vehicles," she rued in the email.
"And when a cab or an auto finally accepts a request, they are often very far away, while the ETA shows two minutes. And if by a stroke of luck, a cabbie does accept a request, he calls and asks you to cancel the request,” Upali wrote. The company responded with a copybook reply to her complaint, and two days after the incident, the process repeated itself.
There’s no denying the need for these new age cab companies; but for all the rhetoric that they indulge in, these organisations are themselves yet to streamline both their processes as well as drivers. Till they do as much, governments will have legitimate reasons to crack down on them.
