Accessibility or annoyance

They travel a distance of two kilometers or more to arrive at people's homes for pickups. However, in return, they are kept waiting for an extended period and subsequently informed that they are not at the correct location, said Umesh, an auto driver.

In Bengaluru apps like Ola, Uber, Rapido, and Namma Yatri are easily accessible for people to travel. People also speak about how drivers do not accept rides and how auto drivers cancel rides.

Picture credits: Curly Tales

These apps make traveling easier for people as they pick them up at their doorstep. But people won’t understand that, they book and keep it and we have to wait. “We want to give a proper service for people and make traveling easier but people take advantage and misuse it, they tell us that we won’t accept rides because for a fact we know that they might cancel it or make us wait,” he said.

Sharing one such experience he said, “Once, I had to pick up a lady who had kept me waiting for five minutes. When she finally arrived, she asked me to wait a bit longer as she wanted to apply perfume. I felt quite frustrated by the fact that she had already made me wait and now this additional delay. Instances like these are one of the reasons we avoid accepting rides.”

“People often complain to Uber and Ola that their fares are higher, but in reality, the rates are quite comparable. If you were to ask anyone at an auto stand, they would tell you a price higher than what these app aggregators charge. However, we choose the convenience of picking passengers up from their doorstep, which adds a mere 20 or 30 rupees extra to the fare. Despite this, we are often blamed for declining ride requests, but we have valid reasons for doing so; reasons that we seldom wish to explain,” said Raju (name changed), an auto driver.