That cab’s starting to look a lot like an auto!

Software

professional Kiara Khanna’s decision to be “responsible” and not drink and drive after a night out with friends did not exactly work out the way she envisioned. “I had had a few drinks and a friend hired a cab for me. The ride itself was uneventful, but as I got out of the car, the

driver

, who might have smelled alcohol on me, insisted that I pay him `200 extra as token for getting me home safe and sound. I refused, so he called my pal who had made the booking and made the same demand,” she says.

For most Bengalureans, app-based

taxi

services meant an end to the daily haggling over fares and putting up with rejection from

auto

drivers. But with more and more cabs flooding city roads, and the demand for them only increasing by the day, it looks like they are taking a leaf out of the auto-driver diary.

That familiar feeling of rejection
Almost everyone who travels by auto rickshaw is prepared to face rejection — what with the drivers being choosier than a bride while shopping for her trousseau when it comes to destinations they want to ply to. It seems that it isn’t very different with cabs these days, with drivers turning off their devices during peak hours, booked rides being cancelled or drivers just not showing up (and turning off/not answering phones soon after).

We could do with a little less dynamism
And then there’s the variation in fares to the same destination, via the same route, but at different times of the day, which leaves people confused. “It’s strange how at different times of the day, the amount I have to pay to go home from work via the same route keeps varying. Earlier, when surge pricing was in play, one at least knew that they would have to pay up to twice or thrice the fare during peak-hour traffic. But with the new ‘dynamic pricing’, I have to pay `200 for a ride that otherwise costs `110, or find another way to get home. How is this different from an auto driver who quotes a high fare for a non-metred ride?” asks media

professional

Sonal Arun, who stopped travelling by auto and uses a cab service instead every day, but is now caught between the devil and the deep sea.
BT tried speaking to cab aggregators, but they remained unavailable for comment till the time of going to press.