Cabbie took the student for a ride, demanded Rs 5194 for a journey of Rs 730

BENGALURU: After landing in Bengaluru from Kolkata on Wednesday, college student Anurag Kumar Singh booked a cab from Kempegowda airport to reach Mathikere area. While the fare mentioned on the app was Rs 730, Singh was shocked when upon reaching the destination the driver demanded Rs 5,000.

Singh told TOI that he booked a ‘mini’ taxi from the airport using the Ola app and was instructed to take the first car he saw in the line-up at the taxi bay.

He boarded the cab and shared the one-time-password (OTP) with the driver. “After typing the OTP he found my name on the app. When we reached the location, he showed me his phone screen and the amount was Rs 5,194. I was shocked because even if I had traveled all over Bengaluru, I would not have had to pay Rs 5,000,” said the student.

Singh then checked his phone and found that the trip had been canceled and he was not even on the trip. After the ride was booked, Singh used to take screenshots of the homepage of these cab aggregator apps. “I was told that if the fare at the end of the ride is higher than the fare quoted at the time of booking, the issue can be taken up with the customer support of the aggregators and a refund may be possible,” he said. Later, the driver settled on a payment of Rs 1,600, which was double the quoted fare.

This was possible only when Singh, who did not know Kannada, alerted his neighbours, who interacted with the cabbie who was arguing with him in the local language. “When we told him that we could settle the matter at the police station, he asked me to give half the amount shown on his phone,” Singh said. According to Singh, Ola has not responded to his requests raised through the mobile app and social media handles. TOI contacted Ola’s media team but did not get any response.