A very taxing issue

As Bengalureans, we are used to the bipolar weather of the city and have even come to love it, eventually. But what we detest about the city is how it comes to a literal standstill after a downpour.  So much so that, people are left stranded on roads for hours together, due to of lack of transportation. Then what is the point of these apps and private cab companies, that claim to deliver cab and auto services anywhere and anytime?

A large number of the people in the city are solely dependent on public transportation to get from one place to another. “On most days I have to wait around ten minutes to get either an Ola or Uber cab, which is fine as 6 pm is the peak hour.

But once it rains, it’s like the app stops functioning. It’s utterly ridiculous! One day I got home only at 10 pm because there were absolutely no cabs available. Applying a surge price makes no sense when cabs aren’t even ready to take you where you want to go!” says Nimeesha Shah, an annoyed artist from the city.

Not only that, many other people have complained about cab cancellations by the driver! Recalling an instance, Suraj Parekh says “I booked an Uber, just as it started to drizzle once, and once it began to pour, the driver called me and asked to cancel the cab. I was confused and wanted to clarify that I still wanted the cab, when he explained that he had a better offer from another user and wanted to take that but wouldn’t be able to unless I cancelled it!”

Taking buses during peak hours is bad enough, but during rains, it gets worse. “I get an Ola fairly easily every morning but one day it was drizzling, and there were absolutely no cabs available! I tried a number of other apps as well but they just refused to function so I finally decided to call a cab from a private company. They made me wait at the nearest landmark in the area for around half an hour, and when I called to find out why they were taking so long, the person on the phone arrogantly said there were no cabs available at this point and hung up on me. Ever since, I have started to travel on my own rather than depend on these people,” says Amisha Harish, a corporate employee in the city.

When we tried to contact representatives of these cab companies for their version, they refused to comment on the topic.