'Most people prefer auto services by cab aggregators'

With a substantial rise in taxi fares along with peak-time and ride-time charges, people are increasingly preferring auto services offered by cab aggregators.

While aggregators feel it is a matter of personal choice, many who earlier used cabs are now switching to autos simply for economical and convenience reasons.

An Ola auto can be booked with an additional charge of Rs 10 as convenience fee over the fare fixed by the transport department. Whereas, the mini cab charges Rs 80 for the first four kilometres and then Rs 10 per km. Along with this, a customer has to pay a ride-time charge of Re 1 per minute which starts from pick-up time to drop time. 

For an economy sedan, the base fare is Rs 100 for the first four kilometres, followed by Rs 13 per every following kilometre, besides the ride-time charges. If the cab is booked during peak hours, the customer will have to shell out a surcharge which is anywhere between 10 per cent and 80 per cent of the total fare depending on the demand and availability of the cabs.

Cab aggregators say there is no competition between the two modes - autorickshaws and cabs. Anand Subramanian, Director of Marketing Communications at Ola, said, “There is no competition between the two modes of transport - mini cabs and autorickshaws - as they coexist and will continue to do so. As it is a matter of availability depending on the customers’ need and use basis. Of course, ever since the autorickshaws have been brought under the technology umbrella, the service has become more efficient and effective, and hailing an auto rickshaw has become far more easier using the app,” he said.

As per statistics, there are almost 11,500 autos associated with Olaand about 17,000 cabs. Ola officials say since  auto hailing service was started on the app, the number of bookings has gone up by 40 per cent.