Cabbie takes student for a ride, demands 5194 for 730 journey

Bengaluru: Having landed in Bengaluru from Kolkata on Wednesday, college student Anurag Kumar Singh booked a cab to reach Mathikere area from Kempegowda airport. While the fare mentioned on the app was Rs 730, Singh was in for a shock when the driver demanded Rs 5,000 when they reached the destination.Singh told TOI he booked a ‘mini’ taxi from the airport using the Ola app and was directed to take the first car that appeared in the line-up at the taxi bay. He got into the cab and shared the one-time-password (OTP) with the driver. “He found my name on the app after typing the OTP. When we reached the location, he showed me his phone screen and the amount was Rs 5,194. I was shocked because even if I roam around all of Bengaluru, I wouldn’t have to pay Rs 5,000,” the student said.Singh then checked his phone and found the trip had been cancelled and he wasn’t even on the ride. Singh used to take screenshots of the homepage of these cab aggregators’ apps after a ride was booked. “I was told if the fare at the end of the ride is higher than the fare stated during the time of booking it, the issue can be raised with the aggregators’ customer support and a refund may be possible,” he said.Later, the driver settled for a payment of Rs 1,600, which was twice the stated fare. That was only possible when Singh, who did not know Kannada, alerted his neighbours who negotiated with the cabbie who was arguing in the local language with him. “When we told him that we could sort out the matter in the police station, he asked me to pay half of the amount displayed on his phone,” Singh said. According to Singh, Ola has not responded to his requests he raised through the mobile app and on the social media handle. TOI reached out to Ola’s media team but there was no response.