taxi

Ola

aggregators

Theaggregator has started collecting a surcharge of Rs 20 for every Rs 100 billedRiding on its increasing monopolisation of operations in Bengaluru, taxi aggregatorhas quietly introduced a surcharge which smacks of auto drivers demanding ‘extra fare’ to ferry you to a particular place.Ola, which has over 10,000 taxis plying under its banner, has begun levying a surcharge of Rs 20 per Rs 100 of the bill generated during peak hours. This is particularly for ferrying passengers to ‘demand areas’, which an Ola executive said were areas in the city limits including IT corridors like Whitefield and Electronics City.But transport commissioner Rame Gowda has told Bangalore Mirror: “Collection of surcharge is a blatant violation of rules. No authority has given them any permission to collect surcharge from passengers who book their cabs. They should charge the fare fixed by the Regional Transport Authority. If they are collecting surcharge, they will invite action. We are waiting for the final guidelines from the Union government. Once that is out, we will govern these taxi.”On Friday, this reporter booked an Ola cab (sedan) for a trip from RT Nagar to Whitefield. The Ola call centre executive informed that a minimum of Rs 150 would be charged for the first eight kilometres, after which the charge would be Rs 13 per every subsequent kilometre.The executive, however, did not inform this reporter about the new surcharge being introduced for ferrying passenger to demand area.It was only upon reaching Whitefield – and that too while alighting from the car – that a bill of Rs 371 was displayed on the driver’s mobile (Ola does not give meter-generated bill to passengers). Usually, Ola sends mails to passengers as soon as the bill is generated. But on that day Ola did not send any mail. It was only the next day that this reporter received a mail from Ola. In the break-up list was displayed the surcharge amount of Rs 61.When BM called the Ola call centre to enquire why the surcharge amount was charged, an executive said, “Surcharge is being charged to passengers booking cabs to demand areas in the city. Ola collects surcharge of Rs 20 per Rs 100 of bill generated.”Interestingly, while details about waiting charge of Rs 2 per minute after the first 10 minutes which includes waiting time during the trip were given, no details about the surcharge were given. There are also no reasons given out why a surcharge is being collected by the aggregator. It must be remembers that Ola is already collecting service tax, education and SHE cess from passengers.This is not the first time that Ola is involved in a controversy of collecting fare from passengers without the sanction of the authority. Senior transport department officials informed that Ola was earlier accused of collecting Rs 50 as peak-hour charge. When the transport department received complaints about that illegal collection they had summoned Ola top officials and directed to discontinue such collections which had no legal sanction.Another senior department official said, “This is an expected move by Ola. For the past several months taxi aggregators were busy giving promotional offers, but now that they have the monopoly they are flouting rules in the name of surcharge and cess. They will definitely invite action if they continue to flout rules. We are waiting for the final order on the governing taxi aggregators.”Bangalore Mirror, despite trying to get replies from Ola through their PR agency, has not received any response from the taxi aggregator.This is not first time Ola has remained silent on collecting charges without the sanction of transport authorities. On February 9, Bangalore Mirror had sent a mail to Ola seeking its replies on collecting Rs 50 as peak-hour charge. Based on the oral complaint to the transport department an additional commissioner of the department had also sought explanation from one of the official of Ola. However, BM did not receive any mail or responses from the aggregator.On February 11, this paper had contacted Ola to get their replies on an accident involving their cab near Yelahanka. It was alleged the driver who was killed in the accident was driving despite being fatigued. The passenger travelling in the car was severely injured. A reply received from the aggregator stated they did not want make any statements on the incident.But they were prompt in replying via mail within two hours when BM had sought its views on passenger safety measures taken up by it. The mail was sent on Dec 18, 2014.