New Delhi: Drivers cancelling rides is the biggest complaint among users of app-based cab services, a year-long national survey conducted by community platform LocalCircles has found.
A whopping 79 per cent of survey participants who responded to a question on ride cancellations said that drivers cancelling rides due to an unfavourable destination or non-cash mode of payment was their biggest grouse.
LocalCircles released its survey findings Wednesday. In a statement, the platform said it received 65,000 responses from app cab users residing in 324 districts of India. Sixty-six per cent of the respondents were men and 34 per cent were women. While 48 per cent respondents were from tier 1 districts, 31 per cent were from tier 2 districts, and 21 per cent were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.
Fifty-eight per cent of users said they had travelled in an app cab in the last 12 months. Forty-seven per cent of these users said the top issue they faced was driver cancellations, followed by surge pricing (32 per cent), long waiting times (9 per cent), safety issues (5 per cent) and non-compliance with Covid protocol (3 per cent).
The survey was conducted to understand current issues with services provided by companies like Ola, Uber, and Rapido among others. It also sought to understand if the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines introduced by the government in 2020 have been effective in resolving driver ride cancellation and surge pricing issues faced by app cab users.
Also Read: Food delivery, hairdresser, taxi, bank, car service — why all want feedback, all the time
71% say no improvement despite govt guidelines
According to the survey findings, 71 per cent of the respondents said that there seemed to be no improvement,as far as ride cancellations were concerned, even after the government brought out the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines in November 2020.
The guidelines, which were put in place by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, mandate that aggregators will be permitted to charge a maximum surge price of 1.5 times the base city taxi fare fixed by respective state governments. Moreover, if a driver cancels a booking without any valid reason, a penalty of 10 per cent of the total fare not exceeding Rs 100 will be imposed.
However, 45 per cent said that even after the guidelines were issued, they were charged more than 1.5 times in surge pricing.
On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court had directed app-based taxi aggregators in Maharashtra to strictly follow the guidelines, and to apply for valid licences to continue operations.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: South Mumbai to Navi Mumbai in 45 mins — India’s first water taxi service launched in island city
Source: The Print
