Commuters haggle with cabbies, autos for change

NEWDELHI:Scores of people, especially office-goers, faced problems in travelling by cabs and auto-rickshaws on Wednesday as drivers stopped accepting Rs 500 and 1,000 notes.

Autos are usually used for shorter distances with fares up to Rs 200. But people using cab services suffered the most. Some app-based cab aggregators warned users that their drivers may refuse Rs 500/1,000 notes . Many commuters did not expect that the impact of the ban on currency notes would be so quick. Ishaan Mathur, who takes a cab to reach his office in Gurgaon, was caught unawares as the driver refused to accept a Rs 500 note. “My bill was Rs 640 and I gave a Rs 500 note plus the change. He refused. I paid through Paytm later,” he said.

Twenty-year old Anamika Kalita sat in a cab with a Rs 500 note to attend classes at Indraprastha College for Women at Civil Lines. “I was lucky since the driver was kind enough to accept the note and give me change. He did that probably because I was his first customer for the day,” she said.

Cab drivers were worried. They said a lot their customers still prefer paying in cash. Imran Haque, a driver with Uber, said he has had to refuse at least two passengers as they didn’t have the “right” notes.

“We can’t take risks. Whoever calls after booking a cab, I ask two questions. Can you pay by e-wallet? Or do you have enough Rs 100 notes?” he said.

Another cab driver, Rohit, had to take his passengers to at least two gas stations despite reaching the destination for want of change. “The passenger offered me a ₹500 note. I had to get it changed at a CNG station after a lot of convincing,” he said.

The problem was worse for auto-rickshaw drivers who said nobody accepted their notes. “I went to a CNG station. But, they just won’t accept ₹500 rupee notes,” said Raju.

Cab companies came out with offers, encouraging people to use e-wallets. “Ola Money, our digital payment solution, reported over 1500% increase in recharges across the 102 cities of its operation since 8:30 pm on November 8 till 12 noon on November 9. It has seen unprecedented traction over the last 12-15 hours with a 15 times increase in recharge volume,” Ola said in a statement.