App-cab charges still not transparent, feel riders

  • | Sunday | 22nd July, 2018

The price, according to the maximum surge price calculations (Rs 27.2), should have been Rs 128. I calculated the maximum surge price and found it to be within limits. “We thank the transport department for letting us be a part of the earlier meeting and subsequently share our submission on dynamic pricing. Do remember, we have been following the capping of prices from July 15 itself,” the Ola spokesperson said.An Uber spokesperson, however, refused to share any data or their base fares. The basic fare begins at Rs 45.“Earlier, surge would be anywhere between 1.2X to 2.9X for Ola.

Times View If all factors contributing to surge pricing are not taken into account, then how can the new system be called a cap on surge prices? Are commuters being taken for a ride? KOLKATA: On a day app-cab operators claimed that their fare structures remained one of the lowest when compared to previous Shahid Diwas days — thanks to the surge guideline issued by the transport department — the passengers yet again felt they were being short-changed with a section of aggregators refusing to divulge their fare structure.The confusion, claimed sources, stems from the fact that an operator is still to declare their base fare and waiting time charges — two areas where the transport department did not impose any restriction. On Saturday, a section of passengers — especially those travelling on share rides — wondered why the capping was restricted to two categories — Micro on Ola platform and the UberGo segment of Uber — only.Take the example of Prithviraj Roy, an IT engineer from Uttarpara who was trying to book a cab from Esplanade to Howrah on Saturday evening, long after the July 21 rally was over. “I tried booking an UberGo for hardly a distance of 4.7km. It asked for Rs 205. On Ola Micro, I was asked to shell out Rs 144,” said Roy. The price, according to the maximum surge price calculations (Rs 27.2), should have been Rs 128. “It was their golden chance, the first crisis day — a big political rally coupled with rain — where they could have shown how they operate transparently. Sadly, in my opinion — and, I can safely say, in the opinion of a section of the public — the perception is that nothing has changed on the ground,” said Roy.The experience was similar for Priyanka Banerjee, a student who wanted to travel from Ruby crossing to Patuli, a distance of 6.3km. “When my father booked an app cab to Howrah from Ruby crossing, he was charged Rs 430 by the app operators. I calculated the maximum surge price and found it to be within limits. But when I tried booking one to Patuli, I was asked to pay Rs 208, around Rs 25-30 more than what I had calculated. It seems that those travelling shorter distances are losing out. Why can’t the pooling service be included in this cap on surge prices?” she asked.Realizing the questions in the minds of its customers, Ola was quick to give an explanation and declare its basic fare structure. In a phone call to TOI, a spokesperson said they were uniformly charging Rs 60 for the first 2km as its base price. The GST cost (7.6%), too, had to be factored in,” he said. The basic fare begins at Rs 45.“Earlier, surge would be anywhere between 1.2X to 2.9X for Ola. On such an important day as Shahid Diwas, the fares were the lowest as compared to previous years. Do remember, we have been following the capping of prices from July 15 itself,” the Ola spokesperson said.An Uber spokesperson, however, refused to share any data or their base fares. “We thank the transport department for letting us be a part of the earlier meeting and subsequently share our submission on dynamic pricing. We can confirm that we have implemented the same and started to self regulate our fares in line with our discussions with the transport department,” an Uber spokesperson iterated on Saturday, something the aggregator has been doing over the last few days.

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