Ola ride proves very costly; time to regulate

Although the entry of Ola was hailed as the solution to all travel problems it is proving to be yet another trauma. The hoardings announcing charges per km at `6 is a hoax. When I began to use Ola service, I found that there is a sudden price hike by 1.2X to 3X without any logic. The user ends up paying exorbitant fares which is much more than the charges of a private cab. Any logical interpretation of 1.2X or 3X means the fare per km will be so many times the normal fare but that is not so.

I happened to travel on July 18 at 9.30 pm a distance of 16 km in Hyderabad and ended up paying `750, and they told me that it is 3X charges. This works out to over `46 per km as against the `6-8 claimed by Ola in hoardings and the media. I think that Ola charges hefty fares from ignorant users to cover up its low price model announced publicly. It must be noted that nowhere in the hoardings or advertisements the pricing model is revealed.

Who decides the peak time or who is authorised to decide the demand and supply dynamics is anybody’s guess.

Long ago, we used to pay high STD charges for using telephones from 10 am to 7 pm as peak time charges but users knew at what time such charges will be levied. It was transparent.

It is time to regulate taxi aggregators by announcing publicly what the pricing model will be at any given point of time. This will prevent users from being caught unawares with a hefty bill. Dr K. Srinivasa Rao, kembais@gmail.com.

Who decides the peak time? Who is authorised to decide the demand and supply dynamics is anybody’s guess.

Ola charges hefty fares from ignorant users.