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Consumer no more king, rue commuters

Since 2014, hordes of commuters in Mumbai started shifting from the yellow-top taxis, which till date remain an unavoidable part of the Mumbaikar's commute, to app-based taxis.

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It's a driver's world, the passenger is no longer king, says Alisha Coelho, who normally takes an Ola or Uber to her workplace at Elphinstone Road from Chembur; there's no direct local train linking the route. In the last days of October, she had to depend on her boyfriend to drop her to work.

Since 2014, hordes of commuters in Mumbai started shifting from the yellow-top taxis, which till date remain an unavoidable part of the Mumbaikar's commute, to app-based taxis. A perception survey of taxis and auto rickshaws, conducted by the consumer rights body Mumbai Grahak Panchayat around two years ago, threw up a lot of data hinting that people had made their choice, said advocate Shirish Deshapnde, chairman of the body.

One, people had many complaints against the existing fleet of black-and-yellow cabs. "App-based taxi services whittled down the arrogance of kaali-peelis and auto rickshaws. People had a lot of grouses against kaali-peelis.

Their drivers frequently refused to ply. They were rude with passengers. Their cabs were unkempt and rickety. In comparison, Ola and Uber were way more appealing. They didn't say no to customers, offered doorstep facility, and had courteous drivers," said Deshpande.

"As a consumer organisation, we welcome any form of competition, though we had doubts about cab aggregators with all the discounts offered, especially their predatory pricing which threatens to kill healthy competition. The nontransparent fare structure hasn't changed much since then," he said. "Yet, if the strike period isn't counted, then app riders don't have much to complain about," he said.

And even though road commute takes up a lot of time, people prefer cabs for their convenience.

But things are quickly changing on that front, as Coelho said. "A few days ago, I booked an app-based taxi service. The driver came two lanes closer to mine and called me up, demanding that I tell him the drop location. When I refused, he cancelled on me," she said.

The episode is tragically similar to the experience in a kaali-peeli cab, where drivers — even those who have hooked up with app operators, have begun refusing fare.

Many others are miffed with the app-based cab drivers' strike, which has concluded recently but only temporarily. "I sprained my leg last weekend, but I couldn't let the few Ola and Uber drivers plying during strike hold me at ransom. So I took my car out and drove," said Udaibir Singh.

Deshpande can empathise with drivers. He said they are in a funk as the incentives they used to receive have reduced. For example, one of the taxi aggregators earlier used to give drivers an incentive close to Rs 3,500-4000 for 35 trips in four days. Now, for 42 trips, the incentive is Rs 2,500. This is a grievous source of dismay among drivers.

Nonetheless, some still set a huge store by the app rides. Aavesh Shaikh, a resident of Mumbai Central, who works in Lower Parel, said: "Life became easy with apps. I don't have to go down the building in this heat and suffer at the hands of taxi drivers who snub me. In an Ola or an Uber, it is easy. I sit in an air-conditioned room, order a cab, and get down only when the cab arrives. Plus, I know the fare in advance."

Hackney Woes

  • App taxis caught commuters’ fancy, made regular taxi drivers realise they can’t hold people to ransom 
  • But familiar problems, of fare refusal and arrogance from drivers, have taken root among app taxis as well 
  • Besides, surge pricing and opaque fare slabs roil passengers’ experience
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