Pune: Nitesh Singh, a Hadapsar resident, almost missed a flight after his scheduled cab to the airport cancelled five minutes before arrival. “I had to rebook another cab and wait for almost 25 minutes. I got very delayed for my flight,” he said.Passengers booking cabs via aggregators like Uber, Ola and Rapido in advance for flights, trains, and inter-city journeys are increasingly finding themselves stranded when drivers cancel the trips at the last minute. “This has become a nuisance for travellers. People schedule cabs for peace of mind and to avoid any last-minute delays. Cabs are getting scheduled but at the scheduled time, the driver is unreachable and doesn’t land up. This has happened twice in the last week,” said Ravi Sachdeva, a resident of Baner.Commuters said drivers cancel close to the pickup time, and this leaves them scrambling to find an alternative. Cab drivers should be penalised for these no-show rides and last-minute cancellations, they said. The issue is particularly stressful for those travelling during peak hours or from areas where cab availability is limited. “Cab availability is not so great in our area and wait time is high during peak hours. We schedule cabs to plan our outings better. There should be some penalty or blacklisting of drivers who cancel at the last minute,” said Yogita Kamble, a resident of Mohammad Wadi.Keshav Kshirsagar, president, Indian Gig Workers Front said, “This is probably happening due to surge pricing in the monsoons. Most cab drivers are on all the three apps— Uber, Ola, Rapido. If drivers see a higher fare on another app due to surge pricing, they must be cancelling the scheduled ride. It’s definitely an inconvenience for the commuter, but this is the nature of the business.”Dhiraj Kamat, a cab driver said, “These scheduled cancellations don’t usually happen in early morning or late-night rides because demand is low at that time. In peak hours, earnings are more due to surge and sometimes due to traffic jams drivers pick closer rides.”“Not all drivers cancel last-minute, and there are sometimes issues like low fuel, traffic jams, network issues due to which cancellations happen,” said a cab driver.While aggregators allow users to book rides in advance, passengers are usually assigned a driver closer to the pickup time, leaving them with limited options if the ride is cancelled. Some said aggregators should provide clearer information on the status of scheduled rides and take stronger action against repeated last-minute cancellations. “I missed an important meeting last week because of this cab confusion. My car was at the service centre and so I scheduled a cab for my meeting. The cab never got confirmed. There needs to be a process in place where commuters can check the status of the booking. I had assumed that the driver was assigned,” said Sagar Dange, a resident of Kondhwa.
