On 8th of Feb 2017, I got down at the Bangalore International Airport (KIAL) and booked a Cab with Uber. It was late at night and by the time I collected all may bags and confirmed the ride it was already beyond 11:30 PM. There were few changes at the airport due to construction of Rapid Exit Taxiways from Feb 19th to April 30th. App based pickup locations had changed and looks like there isn’t any parking left for them and they need to be hovering around near the toll plaza until they get a ride. The distance between toll plaza and parking at KIAL is about 6KM and the riders need to wait depending on traffic situation.

The Uber driver started a chat and started talking about two days strike by the Uber drivers. He said after the strike it has been decided the toll needs to paid by the rider from now onward. I was already skeptical about what he was claiming and asked him that Uber has toll charges included in the fare itself. Uber help clearly states the following

But the driver was adamant on me paying the toll and he was not moving the car out of toll plaza. I saw that the traffic was building up. I reluctantly gave him money for the toll. Since I was not happy he took 80 rupees and returned 20 back, not sure why. The toll is 120 for cars. I felt cheated and was trying to convince him that I don’t need to pay toll additionally. He agreed that if toll is listed on his receipt he would return my money.

So at the end of the trip, I showed my receipt which had the toll charges were included.

The driver was trying to understand what I told or rather knew that whatever I was saying was correct. According to him all other riders have been giving him toll in cash and he showed his receipt where there was no toll included. It was already 1 AM and I decided let him have the toll money that I had given. I raised an issue on Twitter as well on the App and here is what Uber had to say which means that I was correct.

Hopefully I will get the refund but it was a hassle. Its not about 125 rupees. It is about what is right. I like using Uber or any other app based taxi services because they are transparent and upfront with the fares. They were able to control the behavior of drivers through technology but in India there needs some more effort.

Lets not fall into the demand of driver just because he can be more rash than you. Atleast we can stand so that Uber can rein in the unruly drivers. Hope this experience help someone else facing a similar situation. I know this isn’t something really big but necessary for the transparent system to work