No cheap ride in Hyderabad | Hyderabad News
What’s worse is the multiple cancellations that passengers claim they are made to endure before a driver fi nally appears at their gate. Often, these rides are abruptly cancelled either because the ride is too short or the passenger refuses to pay in cash.
“I had to rush for an important meeting in Jubilee Hills on Monday morning and was trying to book a cab for it. After half an hour and six cancellations, I finally gave up and requested a colleague to give me a ride,” said Manikonda resident Dinesh Sastry, working with a health-tech fi rm. He said, despite him willing to pay double the fare – Rs 400 as against the otherwise Rs 220 to Rs 230 – drivers kept cancelling, because he had no cash on him.
Neither Ola nor Uber are registered with the State Road Transport Authority (RTA). Only in Karnataka, the government brought in Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, 2016, which gives them the power to regulate them. When we tried to bring in a similar law in Telangana, the cab aggregators even threatened to withdraw their services in the state. As there is no such law here, neither the RTA nor the traffic police cannot technically regulate them despite receiving several complaints.
Senior officer
Krithika Pandey, commuting from Trimulgherry to Punjagutta said he paid Rs 1,000 (approx.) for a cab ride that had earlier cost her not more Rs 300 to Rs 400. “And this was not even during peak hours. In fact, I waited for at least 45 minutes to see if the price would drop, but no luck. Since I had my toddler with me, I had to eventually pay the steep price,” the homemaker said.
Cab drivers from Hyderabad staged a protest on Tuesday in response to the two-day nationwide strike call given by Central trade unions to protest against the government’s alleged wrong policies affecting farmers, workers, and people
Most affected are those landing at the Hyderabad airport. Apart from extremely steep fares, many of them are also compelled to wait long periods to get a taxi. “I was shocked when an aggregator app showed Rs 2,200 as the fare for my ride from the airport to Moosapet. Also, while I had booked a sedan vehicle, the app kept prompting me to upgrade to premier because which was another Rs 300 or Rs 400 more – as there were no sedans available,” said private employee Srikanth Reddy who eventually paid Rs 1,900 to get home. “Surprisingly, soon after I exited the airport area and checked again, the fare was only Rs 450.”
Irked by a similar encounter, IT professional Smriti Rao fi nally took the bus from the airport to Begumpet, recently. “I wasn’t willing to pay Rs 900 for a trip that doesn’t cost more than Rs 400,” she said, claiming that her usual trips within the city too have become costlier now.
What drivers say:
While they admit to customers being hassled, cab drivers from the city say they are helpless. Blaming cab aggregators and the state government for this mess, drivers say that they have been pushed into a corner owing to rising fuel prices and non-revision of fares
Status report
– Pre-pandemic there were close to 1.25 lakh cabs operational within Hyderabad
– Over 50% of these, drivers say, have been seized by financiers now as drivers failed to pay EMI
– As a result, the current strength of cabs in the city is about 50,000 (approx.)
– Cabbies say aggregators charge 25% to 30% on every ride
– While some states have enforced the Aggregator Guidelines of 2020, for these platforms, there is no such norm in place in Telangana
The guidelines were proposed by the Union ministry of road transport & highways to ensure:
-Regulation of aggregators
-Eligibility conditions / qualifications for of an entity to be an aggregator,
-Compliances with regard to vehicles and drivers
-Compliances with regard to Aggregator App and Website
-Manner of fare regulation,
-Drivers’ welfare
-Service to citizens parameters and ensuring safety
-Evolving concepts like pooling and ride sharing in private cars,
-License fees / security deposit and powers of the state governments
Source link
