Around 84% taxi app consumers surveyed said they faced cancellations after the cab driver came to know of their destination or learnt that the mode of payment would not be cash, a survey by LocalCircles has revealed. The situation has worsened in the last 24 months, the survey report added.
Of the 44,000 respondents from 276 districts of India, around 75% flagged drivers cancelling the ride as the biggest issue they faced with taxi aggregators. Around 62% said they suffered surge pricing, while 48% had issues with the long wait time. The survey questionnaire allowed respondents to choose more than one options.
Asked when the cab drivers cancelled the ride or asked them to do the same, out of 10,948 respondents to the query, 37% said the rides were cancelled “upon finding out the destination”. Around 5% said the rides were cancelled “upon finding out that the payment will not be in cash but digital” and 42% cited both reasons.
“In aggregate, 84% of respondents have faced cancellations either due to destination or due to not wanting to pay in cash or both the reasons, while only 5% stated that they had not faced any problems and 2% did not give any clear reason,” the report said.
Of those who faced cancellations, 79% said the rides were cancelled when the driver learnt of the destination and 47% said they faces such issues when the driver got to know that the mode of payment would be digital and not cash.
Asked if such unfair trade practices have reduced since the government issued notices to taxi aggregators in May 2022, 70% of the 11,069 respondents to the question said “no, they haven’t”.
“Around 70% app taxi consumers say despite the government issuing notices on the unfair trade practices and service deficiencies to taxi aggregators, such experiences have not reduced. Only 14% of respondents have reported positive change,” the report said.
Around 82% app taxi consumers desired that the government should bring basic common standards for shared services like app taxi aggregators and their drivers.
“In comparison to a 2022 survey result which indicated that 79% of app taxi consumers complained that drivers cancel rides when they find out that the payment mode is digital or the destination isn’t convenient to them or both, currently such complaints are shared by 84% consumers. It appears more the demand, given the higher traffic with things normalizing, the worse are the experiences of consumers,” the survey added.
The survey received over 44,000 responses from app taxi consumers located in 276 districts of India. Around 64% respondents were men, while 36% were women. Close to 41% respondents were from tier 1 cities, 36% from tier 2 cities and 23% respondents were from tier 3, 4 cities and rural districts.
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