Hyderabad: Some cab companies in the city have started imposing peak hour charges due to the huge demand for cabs. The availability of cabs has also gone down due to people making bookings up to two days in advance resulting in passengers being frequently redirected to the ‘pick later’ option. As cab company mobile apps are handy and easy to use whether for booking or making instant cancellations an increasing number of passengers are using mobile apps to make advance bookings. The demand for cabs has gone up by 50 per cent in the last six months in the city according to a call centre attendant of Ola Cabs.
“There are peak hour charges depending on time slots and availability of cabs. The peak hour charges are variable,” said the call attendant, who did not wish to be named. The time slots are being completely booked 15 to 20 hours in advance every day. “There is no availability of cabs as demand has gone up substantially. Also people are making advance bookings and therefore even by calling up the phone numbers it is not possible to get an immediate booking. We are rushing from place to place to meet advance bookings so even if a cab is there at a particular location it will not reflect in the server, as it might be booked in advance,” said a driver from Taxi for Sure, Mohd Rashid.
Also along with increasing demand, many cab drivers are secretly adding on charges by inserting waiting charges (ranges from Rs 1 to Rs 2 a minute) during the journey. “The waiting charges are sometimes not reflected in the bill. So drivers ask for extra charges. On one occasion I was also billed for waiting charges for the time when the driver stopped at the petrol bunk to fill fuel,” said Saritha Reddy, a passenger.
