Hyderabad: Surcharges levied by popular taxi services have been burning a hole in the pockets of Hyderabadis in the last 15 days, and on the last day of the immersion, prices soared to stratospheric levels.
Commuters have been complaining vehemently about this dynamic pricing. On Tuesday, cab fares went up two-and-a-half to three times the normal fare in Secunderabad, making a regular shared trip cost Rs 500 as opposed to the normal Rs 150.
Ola cabs, who priced their service lower compared to Uber, rejected bookings despite many cars being shown on the app, allege commuters.
“In the morning Uber showed a surcharge of 2.5 times and this continued up to the evening when a 10 km ride from Hitec City to Banjara costs Rs 400,” says Marika Gabriel, a resident of Maredpally, who travels to Cyberabad daily.
Ola got a lot of flak from customers. “Uber was expensive and Ola was dead cheap, with many cars shown in the app. But the moment you tried booking one, nothing worked out,” complained a commuter.
The social media handles of the two services were flooded with complaints. A user named Raghavendra Chaudhary posted a screenshot showing an Uberpool charging Rs 400 between Madhapur and Inorbit mall in the last week of August, which is a nine-km ride.
Some commuters complained that the trip which showed a certain surcharge or normal fare increased dramatically despite little or no delay.
Sarfaraz Ahmed posted his trip details showing a surcharge of 2.1 times on an eight-km journey between Tolichoky and Nampally. He alleged that the surcharge wasn’t shown before and was dubiously added mid trip.
The cab companies defend their pricing policy. “When dynamic pricing kicks in due to high demand, it incentivises driver partners to get their cars out on the roads to address the demand,” was the official statement given by Uber, adding that the surcharges occurred when demand was higher than the supply and Uber played no role in this as it was managed by algorithms. Ola was unavailable for comment.
