KOLKATA: Passengers coming out of Kolkata airport are being subjected to harassment every day over the last few weeks as app cab drivers refuse to pick them up unless they tell them their destinations. The drivers are allegedly taking passengers only for the destinations of their choice and if the rider doesn’t share the destination over phone or if the driver doesn’t want to go there, he simply doesn’t turn up or doesn’t respond to the person’s call, forcing the passenger to cancel the ride.
“It has become a regular menace at the airport. Currently, the app cab service is worse than the yellow cabs. The yellow cab drivers still have the habit of asking the destination and then charge Rs 30 or Rs 50 extra over the usual fare but they at least take you to home or office. The app cab drivers don’t even turn up if they don’t like the destination and they wouldn’t even bother to tell you that. I spent close to an hour and had to cancel three cabs while coming back to my Parnasree home from the airport,” said Sourav Sen, a frequent flyer.
App cabs in Kolkata had gained popularity following the yellow cab drivers’ frequent refusals that had even prompted the then transport minister Madan Mitra to launch the “No Refusal” taxi movement. But with time, the disease has even crept upon app cabs. “I was heading to a hotel in Rajarhat barely 5km from the airport. But three drivers cancelled my trip upon hearing the destination before a fourth one finally accepted me,” said Namrata Sharma, a businesswoman from Guwahati. App cab drivers cited the lack of passengers on return journey and the destinations far away from cabbies’ home as the major reasons behind the cancellations.
“With fuel prices clocking Rs 100 mark and the company providing us with meagre incentives, it becomes difficult for us to drive for several kilometres without a passenger to pick someone and drive him to a short distance or a place, from where there is less chance of getting another passenger. Hence, we plan our trips accordingly to cut down on losses,” said Suman Seth, an app cab driver at the airport.
Both the online aggregators of cabs and commuters said that the problem of refusal has been persisting for the last three months.
