Ola cabs cancellation a worry? ALERT! Here is what you need to know before taking next ride

Ride hailing major Ola on Tuesday said its driver partners will now see an approximate drop location and payment mode before accepting a ride, a move aimed at reducing cancellations by them and enhancing customer experience.

Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal on Tuesday tweeted that the Bengaluru-based company is taking steps to fix the industry-wide issue of ride cancellations.

"Addressing the 2nd most popular question I get - Why does my driver cancel my Ola ride? We're taking steps to fix this industry wide issue. Ola drivers will now see approx drop location & payment mode before accepting a ride. Enabling drivers is key to reducing cancellations," Aggarwal tweeted.

Customers often face cancellations after drivers on ride-hailing platforms like Ola and Uber either refuse to travel to the location of the rider or want to be paid in cash.

These cancellations also lead to delays, further adding to the hassle for riders.

On every completed trip booked via these applications, the ride hailing company charges a percentage of the fare as commission from the driver partners. Over the past few years, a section of drivers have complained that their earnings have reduced as a result.

Aggregator taxi PIL seeks grievance redressal system; HC asks Maharashtra, Uber to reply

 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Maharashtra government to file an affidavit detailing the statutory rules under which taxi aggregators such as Uber and Ola are granted licences to operate in the state. A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik also directed Uber India to file a reply clarifying whether it had secured a licence under the Maharashtra City Taxi Rules, 2016. 

The bench passed the directions while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Savina Crasto highlighting the lack of an effective grievance redressal mechanism for customers using Uber India app to use their cab services. Crasto cited an incident from November last year when she booked an Uber ride in the city and was dropped off mid-way “at a shady dark place". She then found the Uber app had no effective option for lodging complaints. On Monday, Crasto showed the HC bench how the app worked on her phone and explained that the app's current grievance redressal mechanism had only a list of pre-set complaints that a customer could click on. 

The counsel for Uber India told HC the current mechanism available to those using its app covered all possible issues that one could face. The HC, however, pointed out that during a previous hearing on a similar issue, the Maharashtra government had made an interim statement of not taking any coercive action against private cab aggregators, including Uber and Ola, irrespective of their licence terms. Such an undertaking given by the state was yet to be vacated, HC noted. 

"There is a statement of AGP (state's counsel) from 2017 that no coercive action will be taken on the statutory rules. How can that be? What is this? Because the consequence is that even if an aggregator doesn't possess a licence as mandated by the rules, the state will not be in a position to take action," it said. The HC directed the state government and Uber India to file their reply affidavits by January 5. 

"Let them (cab aggregators) render services to people, but if there are grievances then they have to be addressed. How can the state not do anything? We'll pull you (state government) up on this," the court said. It will hear the PIL further on January 10.