Gurgaon: Commuters faced a familiar festival-day problem — relatively empty roads, but sharply higher fares as the usual shuttle services remained unavailable.While traffic on several stretches was lighter than on regular working days, those travelling between Delhi and the city for work on Raksha Bandhan had limited public transport options and ended up relying on app-based cabs and e-rickshaws.A commuter travelling from NSP in Delhi to Udyog Vihar-3 said the usual cab fare for the journey is around Rs 550-600. On Raksha Bandhan, the fare displayed on the app was Rs 1,220, more than twice the usual amount.“The lack of regular shuttles meant depending on cabs or e-rickshaws. Paying more at every stage made the commute unnecessarily expensive,” Shivani Gupta, a commuter, said.Some commuters said the absence of regular office shuttles left them with little choice but to pay substantially more for shorter or routine journeys.“It was frustrating. There was no traffic-related reason for the journey to take longer. But since the regular shuttle was not operating, I had no alternative but to pay the higher cab fare,” Sandeep Arora, a commuter, told TOI.The problem continued after commuters reached the city. At Sikanderpur metro station, e-rickshaw drivers charged Rs 50 for a ride to Ram Chowk in Udyog Vihar, compared with the usual fare of around Rs 30, commuters said.“The public transport is already very poor in the city. Commuters often end up taking cabs to travel around. E-rickshaws, which are expected to be pocket-friendly, now are taking advantage of the limited transport resources available for the commuters in the city,” Rohit Sharma, who works in DLF-2, said.For employees working in the city’s commercial hubs, office shuttles are often a more predictable alternative to app-based cabs, particularly for those travelling from Delhi daily. For employees required to work on festivals, transport planning should take into account the fact that not everyone has the option of taking the day off, many commuters said.The absence of regular shuttles, combined with higher fares for alternative modes, left such workers bearing the additional cost of reaching their workplaces.The experience also raised questions about the availability of affordable last-mile connectivity around major metro stations and employment hubs in the city, particularly on holidays when regular office transport is reduced or suspended.
