No visible action on ground to end cab fare row

Pune: Tiffs between cab drivers and commuters over fares continued and hardly anything changed on the ground, over a week after state transport minister Pratap Sarnaik promised action against users and makers of onlymeter.in — used by many cabbies to determine the rides' charges.A senior traffic police officer in Pimpri Chinchwad said they had reached out to drivers' unions over law and order concerns, but stressed that fare-related issues were under the transport department's jurisdiction. "We have flagged it to the authorities concerned to prevent recurrence of such incidents," he said.An RTO official said the department was awaiting the state government's aggregator policy, likely to be announced within a week. Regional Transport Officer, Pimpri Chinchwad, Sandesh Chavan said the proposed policy would address all issues related to cab operators and online booking applications.A cab driver allegedly bit the finger of an IT professional in Hinjewadi last week, after the latter refused to pay fare by the meter. In a separate case, an autorickshaw driver allegedly assaulted a passenger over a similar dispute. After the Hinjewadi incident, transport minister Sarnaik said an investigation would be conducted to check if onlymeter.in was official. If not, he said, strict action would be initiated against cab drivers of Uber, Rapido and Ola charging fares via it.Commuters said they preferred paying app-based fares, while drivers demanded payment as per the meter. Atul Kakde, a resident of Hadapsar, said, "I have been using Ola and Uber for years and always paid the fare shown on the app. Now, drivers are demanding payment as per the meter though there has been no such mention on the app or any notification to customers. Drivers are charging us arbitrarily, violating company norms, and no action is being taken."Faisal Shaikh from Kondhwa said, "Drivers don't always insist on charging by the meter. I recently took a ride from Kondhwa to Camp during the peak demand, when the app was showing a surge fare. The driver told me to pay the amount shown on the app even though the meter was running because it was higher. This shows drivers are choosing to charge either by meter or app fare based on convenience. No fixed policy is being followed."Driver' unions said the absence of aggregator policy had led to confusion. Keshav Kshirsagar of the Baghtoy Rickshawala Union said app-based operators were functioning without valid licence and displaying fares not approved by the government."The issue of fluctuating fares displayed on these apps was discussed at a recent Regional Transport Authority (RTA) meeting, where companies were directed to show only government-approved fares. There has been no compliance so far," he said, adding that cab companies had no authority to decide the fare.Kshirsagar said the state govt notified fares for autorickshaws and taxis each year, but cab companies violated these. He said the companies offered lower fares during off-peak periods and deducted the balance amount from drivers instead of bearing the cost themselves.He said, "We have advised our members to display notices in vehicles explaining the fare situation to customers to avoid conflicts. They are repeatedly urged in meetings to refrain from violence."