Cabpooling with drunk people a menace

Hyderabad: Sharing a ride with drunk people, especially strangers, can be a scary experience. A customer of Uber recently went through such an ordeal. While the traffic police encourage people not to drive after drinking, and to opt for cabs instead, they say that cabs are not supposed to be shared. Mr Satya Venkatesh, a resident Kothapet, said, “I had the worst Uber Pool experience on October 1. It was the scariest ride ever because of two drunk, men. The cab reeked of alcohol. As soon as I entered it, I thought the driver was drunk. But later, I saw that there were two drunk men sleeping in the back. They had to get up to make space for me to sit.”

He said that he thought he could handle the situation, and so he did not cancel the ride. “I was glad that they had opted for a cab instead of indulging in drunk driving, but they should have chosen an Uber Go, a non-sharing option.” Mr K.S. Rehan, a resident of Diksukhnagar, had a similar experience. He said, “I was looking for a cab to travel to Kondapur. As it was quite a long distance, I opted for a shared cab. As soon as I got into the car I realised that my co-passenger was drunk. I asked the driver to stop the car and got down. I told the driver that I could not continue to travel in the cab because the other passenger was drunk and I felt very unsafe. I immediately filed a complaint using the feedback option in the app.”

Mr Shaik Salauddin, Telangana state president of the four-wheeler drivers’ association, said that in a recent incident, a drunk passenger had gotten into a fight with the driver and begun abusing him, scaring his co-passengers. “We often receive such complaints from drivers as well as customers. Drunk customers should either take separate cabs, or cab service providers should not allow male and female customers to mix. They should provide separate vehicles at the time of booking shared cabs,” he said.

Mr J. Panduranga Naik, joint commissioner (transport), Hyderabad, said, “As per the Motor Vehicle Act, the sharing of cabs should not be allowed. Cabs and taxis are supposed to be used by individual customers, or for single bookings, but many service providers provide shared cabs.” Mr Naik said the agency had not received any complaints from customers, but we will take strict action against drunk customers who misbehave with their co-passengers.”