Ever since a social media user shared the picture A picture of him having bought 20 bus tickets from Shivajinagar in Bengaluru to Jayanagar has gone viral on the internet and sparked a fresh debate on the viability of cab aggregators. Hailstone And Uber,
As more and more people start working from offices in Bengaluru, the demand for two of the biggest ride-hailing apps, Ola and Uber, is increasing every day. However, the employees are finding it difficult to secure the ride on the first try.
People took to Twitter to share their ordeal after a user named Srinivas Alavilli shared a picture of the ticket and wrote on the microblogging site, “I was willing to pay 15 times more for a cab because I was a little less. Was in a hurry but was not available either. Wasting time booking and getting dreaded “allee sar” calls and then you know what’s next 🙂 Here comes the lovely number 13 @BMTC_BENGALURU and I am going to Jayanagar for a majestic amount 20.”
As more than half of the cabs working in the city went to their hometowns in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and more than 30% have not returned due to the commission that they have to pay per ride aggregators, there are only around 30,000 cabs. According to a report in May, there are 1 lakh-odd cabs on the roads today as compared to the 1 lakh-odd cabs that existed in the city during pre-COVID times.
With rising fuel prices, rising inflation, EMIs, debt and rising cost of living in Bengaluru, drivers are choosing not to return to the city.
As the tweet created buzz on the social media platform, a user predicted that Ola and Uber cabs would be phased out ‘within the next 3-5 years’ at least in Bengaluru.
Another user complained about repeated cancellations, standard ‘cash or Ola money’ questions and long wait times for rides, while another referred to the ‘ridiculous’ attitude of drivers at both Uber and Ola . “When they’re penalizing customers for canceling, why aren’t drivers also penalized for canceling a trip after accepting a booking?” User asked.
With delayed Metro construction, over 23% of BMTC services are not operational after 6 pm and Bengaluru is running short of cabs, public transport is stalled with citizens running out of options.
A Twitter user, a techie, said that with the ever-increasing traffic in Bengaluru, he decided not to use his personal vehicle and strictly avoid weekend commutes, adding that without canceling, he would have to work with Ola or Uber. The probability of getting a cab is 0%, so he has shifted to using cab rental Easydrive and Savari.
Also, Twitter has been flooded with solutions to tackle the city’s transportation woes, with one user posting statistics showing that public transport in India is available with only 63 out of 458 Indian cities of over 1 lakh. Have a long way to go. Having a formal city bus system, Chandigarh has the best per capita bus fleet with a population of 4.7/1000, while Bengaluru has 0.54 buses/1000 population.
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