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Greetings TeamBHPians !

This is my first thread on TeamBHP and I am afraid it might not be what most of the first threads are about. This is rather a grim mention of a few of my cab rides. I request the moderators to move this thread, if it is in the wrong place, to a suitable forum and pardon my naivety of TeamBHP rules. Please bear with me, it will be a long post.

The Premise

During my college years i.e. 2016-19 I had to commute extensively to manage my college and my ancestral apple orchards as there are only three of us in the family. Since my elder sister was already doing a job in another city, sometimes my mother had a hard time managing the business and other homely affairs all by herself. So, as I said, I had to commute extensively between the city where I was studying and my hometown. Being young,
dumb and [by privilege] not broke (music lovers will know the song) I had this giddy belief that this was my time to struggle and I even refused to have a car. Then I was heavily under the impression of the financial advice that car is a depreciating asset and it makes sense to use public transport or hire a cab. My ignorance overshadowed the convenience and more importantly time saving aspect of owning a car. I used public transport where I could and booked a cab where I couldn't find any buses on time.
So yeah, I have extensive experience of riding in a cab.

Disclaimer:

This is based on personal accounts. NO INTENTION TO HURT OR DEFAME ANYONE. I am not generalizing. I have had some pleasant experiences too, a few where drivers were nice and responsible. Nonetheless, most of the cabbies aren't well mannered, both on the road and as a person.

Below is the list of a couple of the instances that are on top of my mind:

1. The blood eye.

The cab was going at the city speed of 30-45km on a sunny afternoon. Everything was good, the driver was polite, perfectly cooled car beating the summer heat and proper lane discipline except for two things - I was at the back without wearing a seatbelt (my fault) and the driver was watching a movie in android infotainment system simultaneously. I was skeptical about his multitasking but I don't know why I said nothing to him. All I thought was that it's gonna be just a short ride. All of a sudden, I felt a jolt and then fell leftwards banging my head against a grab handle. Next thing I remember the sky above from the right windows and asphalt through the left. The car had hit the curb and toppled left.
Thankfully, I just had a mild concussion, a sprained shoulder, a blue temple and a blooded left eye that lasted 3 weeks.

2. The chills down the spine.
My friend and I were returning from a late-night movie. Along the way there were three girls walking. The middle-aged cab driver watched them like a bloodhound and passed a remark which left the two of us in utter shock. The mere thought of it as I am writing this gives me chills down the spine. It is so disgusting that I don't even want to type it. From that day onwards I never let my sister, mother, girlfriend and my female relatives travel alone in cab.
Don't know how many predators out there are leering at the little girls and women. I reported this to OLA Cabs.

3. Never sit in the front.
Those were the early days of Uber Pool. I was the first passenger to be picked up and I sat in the front seat. This young driver got a little chatty with me. I talked to him about how much he earned from Uber and stuff like that. Two young women boarded the cab from a college gate. I was the last one to be dropped off and when I reached my destination that cabbie told me which I will loosely translate here as - "Thank God brother you sat in the front, otherwise it becomes very difficult for me concentrate on the road when a girl sits at the front and she is wearing the seatbelt." I watched him in shock and all I managed to do was to point out that it was wrong. Later I complained to Uber. Ladies, avoid sitting in the front.

4. Long Booking.
The three of us friends decided to book a cab to a station from where we were supposed to board different buses to our hometown. We were going home after semester exams for vacations. We had a lot of luggage. So, we decided to book a cab from a taxi stand for ₹3500 for 140kms. About 60KMs or so the cabbie got a call. He then did something which I had never anticipated in my farthest dreams. He stopped the taxi in the middle of nowhere and told us he had to go back because he got a "long booking". Upon objection and arguments, he got out of the car and threw our bags out of the trunk. We were shit scared. Sensing our helplessness that man asked us to pay ₹2000 for the distance covered. A bus came after 10 minutes or so, and the bus driver was keen enough to sense something was wrong. Seeing that the bus was stopping, that cabbie took a U-Turn and sped away. The three of us were about 19, apt enough to note down the Vehicle Number Plate but scared enough to not get the matter reported to the police. The main reason not to lodge a complaint was that one of us was a girl and she was afraid of her family if they came to know of her being friends with boys. I believe most of the people coming from tier-2 or tier-3 cities or small towns know what I am talking about.
PRO TIP: If you are a young adult prefer public transport. And don't hide everything from your parents. Give them a chance, they know better.


If you have made this far, I thank you. I hope you all learnt something from my experience. I am sorry if the post is depressing.

Ending on a lighter note, attaching photos of my Peace Of Mind steed, or as we jokingly named it POM.

[saikishor]

The cases you have mentioned felt like extreme cases to me. My experience with cabs in Hyderabad has been decent till now and nothing more than that. However I can recall one cab ride from 2016, which just has to be the worst experience I had with cabs till date. I was accompanying my mom to a job interview. This cab guy showed up late in a not so clean car. And then he started blasting telugu christian songs in full volume, despite of my mom telling him to stop playing them twice. And add to this he dropped us at a wrong location, making us to walk for 200-300m.

I prefer bike taxis over cabs, as these are much cheaper and the experience with these guys has been mostly positive.

[chinkara]

To add to your tales of woe (you are presumably from North).
1. A colleague was going to a friend's place in Gurgaon during her internship in Delhi (she was from down south, so not very familiar with roads). The driver took her towards some village far away - she sensed something was amiss and jumped out of the moving car when it slowed down in a pothole. The driver came out and chased her, but stopped as some uncles were under a tree nearby. It was an incident reported in the news at the time (Uber). She still felt the trauma when she recounted the incident 3 years later.

2. This was in 2015 I think - the days of great fog in winter. I was in Gwalior and supposed to take the Shatabdi back to Delhi. I had an important meeting next morning and was leaving on our family vacation next evening. After waiting for 4-5 hours, we were told that the train has been stopped and may be delayed by 18-19 hours. I asked around, and was told that there was a cab from Delhi which was looking for a return passenger. We settled on a price and set off around midnight.
By Morena, I realized the guy was too tired to drive. Almost veered towards a tree. The fog was also settling on the road. I asked him to take rest in the back seat and drove myself. Finally near Palwal he woke up refreshed and drove the rest of the way.

[IndieGooner]

Many years ago, I hitched an early morning cab ride with my brother-in-law's friend. We were traveling southwards from Kochi and the cab was scheduled to pick us up at 5:00. The driver arrived at the appointed hour on a Linea and we set off. He told us that he will be dropping at Cherthala as he had been driving overnight. Another driver from the cab agency would be waiting for us there and take us rest of the distance.

Things went as expected until the first driver dropped and in walked our new driver - a kid who looked not a day older than 20. Next several kilometres were absolute madness as this guy proceeded to break every single traffic rule and driving etiquette that mankind has known! I have never been in a vehicle more rashly and insanely driven.

Short time later, we stopped for refueling and my very white faced and shaken co-passenger asked me "what the heck is going on?" Despite our protests the madness continued after the fuel break as well. Finally, somewhere near Alappuzha he attempted an impossible manouver on a narrow bridge and got stopped by another cabbie coming in the opposite direction. This guy gave our driver a good earful and pointing at us asked "are you going to murder these folks today?" Fortunately, some good sense prevailed on our driver after this outburst and we were driven rest of the way in much more civilized manner.

Thinking back, I wonder why we were not more forceful in our protests and allowed this lunatic to put us in so much risk? Maybe, we were too shocked? The cab was booked by my co-passenger and I was merely hitching a ride. I hope he did complain to the cab agency.

[Small Bot]

There are two incidents that I'd like to narrate.

Wife and I were travelling towards Thane in an Ola Cab a few months ago when a traffic policeman threw himself at our car. Our driver stopped and he was immediately whisked away into a police station nearby (This happened near Kalyan West).

We wait for twenty minutes, during which the driver kept telling us on call that he'll be out in two minutes. We got our luggage out and started waiting in the roadside bus stop instead. We felt safer with more normal people around. When the driver finally came out, it was almost 25 minutes later and we decided to cancel the cab.

He immediately cancelled the cab from his app and ran off without a word. We did see the policemen come out and look for him again, but we had boarded another cab by then.

I think it could have been some serious offence, but probably not serious enough to warrant arrest.

The second incident was a lot more serious. This happened in Chennai when the wife was travelling from the airport towards Ashok Pillar late in the night.

The driver apparently seemed drunk and he was not going in the direction pointed out by either her or Google Maps - as in, kept diverting into narrow side roads instead of going by the main road. He was also going too fast for city roads.

She finally asked him to stop near a government hospital and got off quickly. He then threw some choice words at her which I'll not repeat here and ran off.

Reported duly to Ola, but no idea if this is just lip-service or if anything concrete really happened.

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Originally Posted by chinkara

1. A colleague was going to a friend's place in Gurgaon during her internship in Delhi (she was from down south, so not very familiar with roads). The driver took her towards some village far away - she sensed something was amiss and jumped out of the moving car when it slowed down in a pothole. The driver came out and chased her, but stopped as some uncles were under a tree nearby. It was an incident reported in the news at the time (Uber). She still felt the trauma when she recounted the incident 3 years later.

This is so horrifying to read. Incidents like these put scars so deep that they often haunt a person for a lifetime.

[Mr.Ogre]

I have had a few not so good experiences, especially when I was trying to book a cab from Phoenix market City in the evening and both ola and uber drivers were just cancelling the rides after accepting them.

However, yesterday I had a weird experience. I booked a cab to pick me from Marriott through uber, but the driver called back to say he was at the airport and I need to come to the airport. I was surprised and amused, and requested the driver to either come to the pick up location mentioned in the app or cancel it. Needless to say he cancelled it.

[W.A.G.7]

Those are some weird experiences indeed! I haven't faced any major problems with cabbies, except for one incident where the cab was smelly to the core and felt like it was used to transport cow dung! Later on, when the ride ended, the driver revealed that he used it in the morning to distribute milk in nearby areas. That's why it smelled so bad. Thanks for sharing your experiences, definitely something to learn from those, especially what to do when you are stranded in the middle of nowhere.

[navaneeth]

Few years ago, I took an Uber ride from Jayanagar (Bangalore) to HSR layout. I had a heavy rucksack & laptop bag with me. When the cab reached Silkboard junction, driver told me his friend is hospitalised & he should go. He did not get a phone call during the journey so far & was smirking while mentioning friend is hospitalised. Had to walk rest of the distance (2km) as it was peak time and chances of getting another cab or auto is slim.

Recently, I got a cab on Uber but it was coming from 45km away for my 5km trip. Had to pay cancellation charge for cancelling this ride.

[D'Ro@dSt@r]

A good thread and that reminds me of one of the altercation that I had with a auto wala in Bangalore in 2012, when we didn't had so much of app-based cabs.

So it was a sunday morning and we (wifey and Me) were really excited as we were going take the delivery of our new car. We negotiated with an Auto wala and he started driving on the vacant roads at higher speeds which i was not comfortable with. I took the courage and told him "Bhai, Tu thoda aaram se chala le, mujhe koi jaldi nahi hai "(Brother, You can drive calmly, I am not in a hurry). To which I got a response as "Tu, kyon bol raha hai" (Why are you saying ). I got amazed at this response and said, "Main nahi bolunga to aur kaun baitha hai idhar ?" (If I will not say then , who else is sitting here). To which he got angry and stopped the auto n said , you shld not say the word "TU" . To which my wife said sorry and asked him to continue. The rest of the journey we both had our hearts in our mouth as he was speeding more after this discussion and didnt even dropped us to the showroom and instead we had to walk the last bit.

Even now as well I have to request some of the cab drivers to slow down on my rides to the airport. Some of them do listen and others dont even care.

[TorqueKnight]

My experience was mixed. Had a very great experience with really good drivers who were very courteous and at same time had few bad experience with very bad drivers.

2 times drunk drivers turned up for the ride and we realised this only after completing the trip. We only take cabs if the destination has parking constraints else our own transport is best.

[Apex1815]

Thank you for sharing your experience, one can learn from the experience of others.

A few of my bad experience which I can recollect are :

1) Goat Passenger in OLA
Around the year 2019, it was an afternoon when I was about to board a cab to Bangalore airport. After the cab arrived the car was having cow dung smell, a few traces of dung on the floor and a little bit of grass. When I enquired, the driver said that he had carried his Goat by car before my booking.
Left with no option as I had to take flight I kept my bag in the boot and sat in the front. The car kept badly stinking throughout.


2) Different driver than shown in the App
I noted this while travelling a while and filed a complain in the App.

3) Driver having some Mental Issue
This cab I boarded from Bangalore airport to my residence. I noted something weird about the driver as he was mostly seeing towards right hand side upwards instead of keeping his head straight. It appeared as he is trying to locate some aeroplane in the sky. I intervened two to three times but his way of talking was not normal. I was in dilemma whether I should continue or stop my journey there itself. Any ways once you are on Airport Flyover going towards Hebbal you will not get any other cab soon. I somehow thanked god after finshing my 35 minutes journey.

[Pkumarblore]

A very nice thread indeed. Just last Friday I had a weird experience. I hailed an Auto at 12:30 in the night from Sheraton Rajajinagar(after an office party) to my residence in J P Nagar. The driver asked for a whopping Rs.900. I just walked away looking for other Rickshaws. He kept following me requesting me to board since he was also headed that way. I told him that I will only pay double of the meter fare. He obliged and I got into it. He kept moving but never turned on the Meter. I asked him and he said you know the regular fare, so double it. Then he changed his route and I asked him why. He said he needs to fill gas and the nearest station is on this way. It was quite a long detour. Then I realized from his continuous phone conversation that he was a goon involved in seizing rickshaws illegally if finances are not paid. He was already planning one such seizure that night. Finally we reached home at about 1:15. I got out and asked him how much should I pay. He demanded Rs.890/-. The normal fare is about Rs.190/-, so double should not be more than 400/-. I tried to reason with him, but he was not listening and started arguing with me. I gave him 500/- and was walking towards my gate, when he got out and asked for more. I gave him another 100/- and just walked in and locked the gate. He was like still arguing loud and I just dint look back.
I use rickshaws and cabs only when my driver is not around and most of the time the rides have been ok with the occasional rash and rude drivers. Some tend to vent their personal ire at us out of frustration. So, yes it can be tricky sometimes.

[ais]

Well, you'll be shocked then!

I am a victim of an attack by an Uber driver (more on this in due course). Below is a list of all reported incidents I could find (Excel table format couldn't be copied here, but the list is still easily comprehensible).

And yes, I'm doing something about it.

Meanwhile, please be careful.

No DATE LOCATION INCIDENT
1 17 Feb 2023 Pune Drunk Uber driver rams multiple vehicles with female passenger on board, abduction charges added
2 30 Nov 2022 Bengaluru Rapido driver and friend rape woman rider
3 16 Oct 2022 Mumbai Uber driver arrested for harassing Marathi actress
4 27 Sep 2022 Chennai Female student rider molested by Uber Auto driver
5 18 Sep 2022 Delhi Uber driver convicted and sentenced for sexual misconduct
6 13 Sep 2022 Bengaluru Ola drivers strand passengers on highway to extort money
7 5 July 2022 Chennai Ola driver beats passenger to death in front of his family
8 1 July 2022 Chennai 3 passengers murder Ola driver
9 17 May 2022 Bengaluru Passenger stranded on highway by Ola driver
10 2 June 2022 Guwahati Uber driver tries to ram customers with car over payment issue
11 31 May 2022 Thane Ola driver murdered by 5 passengers
12 18 Apr 2022 Kochi Driver abused, shouted at woman passenger, left her on road
13 24 Mar 2020 Kolkotta 1. Women abused in one incident
14 “ “ 2. Elderly dragged while alighting cab
15 11 Mar 2022 Mumbai Threatened to kill, snatched mobile phone
16 27 Feb 2022 Mumbai Shabana Azmi’s neice abandoned midway late night by driver
17 29 Jan 2022 Mumbai M. Magistrate Andheri convicts driver U/S 509 IPC, 6 months jail term
18 4 Dec 2021 Bengaluru Driver masturbates in front of young woman passenger
19 13 Nov 2021 Kolkotta Mention of complain with police by passenger for app cab driver beating him and molesting his wife at end of trip
20 6 Oct 2021 Bengaluru Driver threatened passenger actress Sanjanaa Galrani
21 23 Sep 2021 Bengaluru Driver held for RAPING woman passenger
22 10 Sep 2021 Delhi Driver stabs passenger- an ex policeman
23 30 Nov 2020 Kolkotta Molest cuffs on bike taxi driver in Calcutta
24 24 Aug 2020 Kolkotta App based cab driver arrested for molesting woman
25 7 Oct 2019 Bengaluru Driver assaults and breaks passengers nose
26 30 May 2019 Delhi Driver sexually harasses woman passenger
27 14 Dec 2018 Mumbai Driver masturbates in front of woman passenger
28 19 Jul 2018 Mumbai Driver arrested for abusing woman passenger
29 14 Jul 2018 Bengaluru Driver assaults and breaks passenger’s nose, fingers
30 12 Jul 2018 Mumbai Driver crashes car, woman passenger DIES, driver completes trip to bill dead woman
31 12 Jul 2018 Bengaluru Driver threatens woman passenger
32 2 Jul 2018 Tangra Driver arrested for kidnapping woman passenger
33 16 Jun 2018 Chandigarh Driver arrested for harassing woman passenger on Whatsapp
34 25 Jun 2018 Mumbai Co passenger assaults female passenger
35 21 Jun 2018 Bengaluru Driver assaults (kicks, punches) passenger- Dubai based engineer
36 6 Jun 2018 Bengaluru Driver strips woman passenger, clicks pictures, threatens
37 16 May 2018 Mumbai Woman passenger catches driver masturbating. Abuses, threatens her
38 28 April 2018 Mumbai Litigant assaulted by Uber driver, suffers grievous injury, criminal trial on
39 18 Apr 2018 Delhi Driver arrested for masturbating before woman passenger
40 13 Mar 2018 Delhi Drunk driver arrested for abducting, harassing woman passenger
41 16 Nov 2017 Bengaluru Dave Banerjee attacked by gang of over 20 Uber drivers. Case on file
42 22 Oct 2017 Hyderabad Driver masturbates in front of woman passenger
43 9 Oct 2017 Mumbai Actress Mallika Dua made to disembark car by driver
44 30 Sep 2017 Mumbai Driver arrested for molesting woman passenger
45 5 Sep 2017 Bengaluru Driver assaults passenger with iron rod, hits head, neck, back
46 19 Jul 2017 General Rider with disability raises concerns on insensitivity of aggregators/drivers
47 13 Jul 2017 Noida Driver stops car on isolated road, calls friends telling them about woman passenger in car (possibly to kidnap/rape). Woman averts incident
48 9 Jul 2017 Ghaziabad Driver arrested for RAPING woman passenger (includes assault, unnatural sex)
49 17 Mar 2017 Delhi Driver harasses woman passenger
50 25 Dec 2016 Delhi Ola Horror: Bureaucrat, daughter left stranded at night in Delhi
51 20 Dec 2016 General 1. Ms. Sahoo asked by driver to board cab that already had male strangers 2. Ola driver secretly filmed girl in cab
3. Mr. Shekar billed over R. 9 Lakhs for a single ride
4. Mr. Mehta and friend Christine suffered injuries when driver crashed car
5. Ms. Alves abused by driver on cancelling booking
52 25 Dec 2016 Delhi Ola Horror: Bureaucrat, daughter left stranded at night in Delhi
53 16 Dec 2016 Delhi Driver arrested for molesting woman passenger working as airport managr
54 30 Sep 2016 Delhi Driver crashes car, passenger- girl, dies. Other passengers (girls) injured
55 10 Sep 2016 Mumbai Driver molest foreigner woman passenger. Uber didn’t check his background earlier. Incident occurred on 17 August.
56 8 May 2016 Delhi Belgian national molested by Ola cab driver
57 22 Jan 2016 Noida Driver arrested for molesting woman journalist
58 4 Sep 2015 Jaipur Ola driver held on charges of molesting Finnish girl
59 20 Aug 2015 Bengaluru Uber takes action against driver, passenger after altercation
60 22 Jul 2015 Kolkotta Driver arrested for masturbating in front of woman passenger
61 8 Jul 2015 Delhi Driver sacked for masturbating in front of woman passenger
62 1 Jun 2015 Gurgaon Driver molests female passenger
63 8 Dec 2014 Delhi Uber banned in Delhi after RAPE of female passenger by driver Shiv Kumar Yadav. Driver convicted after trial. Delhi High Court upholds order on 20 Oct 2015. Crimes by driver continue unabated.

NEW INCIDENTS ADDED-

64 25-2-23 Kolkotta Driver snatches woman’s phone, drags her friend, injuring her grievously

65 20-10-23 Guwahati Uber driver rapes young woman passenger
66 20-10-23 Delhi Uber driver sends inappropriate messages to woman passenger
67 04-10-23 Rajasthan Uber driver harrases passenger- she jumps from moving cab
68 10-08-23 Bengaluru Uber driver assaults woman passenger and her child
69 03-08-23 Bengaluru Uber driver cheats woman passenger of Rupees Eighty Two Lakhs
70 22-06-23 Pune Uber driver molests, tries to rape IT professional
71 21-06-23 Bengaluru Uber driver exposes private parts to female passenger
72 03-04-23 Pune Cabbie booked for sexually harassing passenger
73 24-03-23 Delhi Woman passenger injured by Uber driver as he speeds away after argument
74 03-03-23 Delhi Woman journalist harassed by Uber driver

[noopster]

My own "worst cab experience" dates back to pre-Uber/Ola days and ironically when I wasn't a passenger myself. This is some time in the late 80s/ early 90s when my Dad used to go on regular official trips abroad. Cabs were not that common in the suburbs back then, it was mostly autorickshaw-dominated. Still there was a spot on SV Road, about a 12-minute walk from home, where you could find taxis.

I would usually be the one dispatched to fetch a cab to the airport. I remember walking to SV Road (the junction where Hotel Ratna stands, to this day) and asking the kaali-peeli cabs parked there, "Airport chalenge?" None of them was interested. One of them told me they were waiting for customers to "Bombay" (meaning the business district in South Mumbai) since they were assured of a return fare. He was kind enough to advise me to flag one of the passing cabs since they would be more amenable.

No luck. I couldn't find too many cabs plying and the one or two I asked harboured similar sentiments.

I started to panic. Started heading in the opposite direction, to Link Road to try my luck there. Same problem!

I finally just ran home and to my consternation (and then relief) found my Dad outside our building loading his luggage into a taxi waiting there. They waited and waited, then worked out what may have happened and my sister remembered a friend of hers from school whose father operated a cab service (those white Ambassadors with the T board).
Luckily he was able to send a cab at short notice, so my dad made his flight after all!

I still have nightmares of spending close to an hour flagging down cars in increasing desperation sometimes! After that incident, Dad used to just call that T-cab guy so I was off the hook