Are Rideshare platforms being cheated by some drivers in India
Rideshare platforms created metamorphic change in how consumers hire a cab. Gone are the older days when every taxi and auto guy will haggle with you from the fare you have to pay to the destination you have to go.
Rideshare has done service to commuters. But has that done the same to drivers.
Few drivers are indulging into unfair means to make money.
Here is how it happens – You book a ride. The driver comes to you. The driver asks you, how much you are paying for the ride. You tell him the amount. After going half a kilometer, the driver offers you a proposition. Can I complete the trip here? I will take you to your destination. Whatever amount the app is showing, you please reduce from the total fare and pay me rest of the fare in cash. Let me take an example, a 25 KM commute is showing a price of Rs. 750. After 0.5 KM, you allow the driver to end the trip, the app will show Rs. 100 as fare, commuter pays rest Rs. 650 to the driver at the end of the trip. Some drivers go to another extreme. The commuter has requested the car, the car has come, commuter sits in the car, the driver asks him the fare showing on his app. Driver requests that you cancel the trip, reduce the cancellation fee and give him rest cash, he will drive to the destination.
Now in the process, rideshare company like Ola/Uber is cheated of their legitimate share of ride commission.
In fact, there are many more people who are cheated.
For one, the commuter is cheated, 1. It is unethical to collude in a wrong practice, 2. When the ride is continuing on a rideshare platform, the ride is being monitored, so in case any accident happens, the ride details are being captured, and the live location is bring tracked, even a panic button is available for the rider for emergencies. So the help is a button away. Safety is hugely compromised, and the rider is completely in the hands of the driver. In case the driver has mala fide intentions, the rider is without any recourse. In a monitored ride, even if a crime happens, tracing the crime is a lot easier than in an unmonitored ride. 3.What if the driver starts negotiating at the end of the ride? 4. Almost all of us agree that rideshare has made commuters life easy, and it is in commuters favor to let the system run smooth.
Another entity cheated is the government. Out of rideshare money deducted, a %age of money is GST collected and paid to the government. Government is losing its portion of the tax and ultimately tax money is used to provide law and order, public utilities and a lot of other things, so ultimately affecting the public at large.