Penalty On Uber, Ola Drivers For Cancelling Rides, No Surge Pricing – Consumers Demand From Taxi Apps!

LocalCircles a social networking site has conducted a survey to find out consumers sentiments towards app-based taxi services.

This survey shows that the consumers demand a financial disincentive on these platforms and drivers. It was conducted among more than 22,000 app-based taxi service users.  

According to this report, When a user cancels a ride than he has to pay some cancellation charges as per the rules but the same is not applicable to drivers when they cancel a confirmed ride. So majority of respondents asking to penalize these cab drivers according to total ride fare, confirmed by the survey conducted by LocalCircles.(reference liveMint)

Recently Madhya Pradesh government has announced a set of rules and regulations for app-based taxi services running in state. In which they have asked for implementing a penance 

of Rs 1,000 per cancelled pre-confirmed ride.

The founder and chairman of LocalCircles Sachin Taparia said “According to my conversation with users, drivers usually cancel rides after getting in touch with customers to understand their destination, and in many cases this becomes tricky for consumers who may be availing rides at late nights. People are also extremely upset over drivers personally requesting the user to cancel rides from their end even after the ride is confirmed,”.

Six outcomes of this survey shows that there is a shift in cab users preferences and they are  more opting for convenience then the earlier reason of low fares.

1st Finding: Penalty On Cancellation

45% of users surveyed preferred a fix amount of Rs 100 penalty charges for every cancellation. On the other hand 49$ preferred a penalty amount equivalent to 20% of the cancelled ride fare and only 3% of users opted for no penalty charges for cancelled rides.  

2nd Finding: No Surge Pricing

The second big issues reported was surge charges

Around 39% of the respondents said that surge pricing is the big issues faced by them while using app-based taxi services

While 12% reported that waiting time is a big issue for them.

6% said that cancellation charges are creating troubles for them.

While only 2% reported that safety is a persistent concern for them. 

3rd Finding: Reduce Taxi Rates

This is about surge pricing model used by app-based taxi services.

45% suggested that it should be capped at 25% above regular fares.

49% asked for prohibition of surge pricing even if it leads to no availability of services.

Only 4% opted for no upper limit for surge pricing.

4th Finding: Benefits For Pre-Booked Rides

Many consumers have shown concern for surge prices applied to pre-booked rides.

83% of the respondents feel that surge pricing should not be applied on pre-booked rides.

While 14% users opted for surge pricing on pre-booked rides.

5th Finding: Why Users Choose Uber/Ola?

Amid the top reasons for opting for app-based cab services like Ola, Uber etc.

64% given emphasis on convenience they feel while using a cab service.

15% said low fare is the reason for them.

While 12% said certainty of services is the deal for them.

Only 5% said that safety is an important reason behind using cab services.  

6th Finding: Customer Service?

There was a major concern shown by respondents for accessibility of customer services for these app-based rides like Ola and Uber. They have reported that these platforms are deliberately creating friction when it comes to availing customer services.

55% of the survey participants were informed that they couldn’t find a way to talk with customer care.

10% reported that they could speak with them and find it satisfactory.

23% opted for they haven’t had a need to talk with them yet.

While only 12% reported that they could speak with them but it was not helpful.

These results show a clear shift in consumer’s mind set where low-fare was the reason in 2014-15, now consumers looking for more comfort and opting for convenience over lower prices, confirmed by LocalCircles report.