'Makes No Sense': Ola Leaves it on Customers to Negotiate Fares With Auto Drivers, Internet Irked

Negotiating fares with auto rickshaw drivers can be a real pain, right? It’s frustrating, exhausting, and often feels like a never-ending battle. But when ride-sharing apps like Ola, Uber, and Rapido came along, their fixed-price feature was a breath of fresh air. Suddenly, the hassle was gone, and you knew exactly what you were paying.

However, Ola has recently thrown a curveball, taking away this convenience. Yes, you heard that right! In a surprising move, Ola has changed its terms and conditions for auto rides. Instead of showing a fixed fare, they now display a fare range, leaving it up to you and the driver to settle on a price. For instance, if you’re traveling from point A to point B, the app might now show a range of Rs. 130-200, and you’ll have to haggle with the driver to decide the final fare. This change took effect on March 1.

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One frustrated user took to ‘X’ to voice his discontent, sharing a screenshot of the new fare range. The Bengaluru-based user tweeted, “Now @Olacabs wants its users to negotiate the final amount with the drivers once the ride is complete.” This sparked a lively debate online.

“This is such a useless feature because you and i know that auto drivers are gonna ask for the max amt (even worse in cities like chennai where auto drivers are entitled for extra 50/100),” one user complained. Another added, “There is no negotiation, drivers demand the upper band amount and you will fork  it out.” A third user echoed these sentiments, “There’s no negotiation, one has to pay the high end price. Plus it’s cash only. Worst feature, have stopped using Ola for past few weeks because of this.”

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While Ola didn’t respond to this particular post, an anonymous Ola executive once told Deccan Chronicle, “We deal with a lot of situations everyday where a customer claims a driver took an extra amount and we have to refund that amount. But when we investigated, we found that no extra money was collected by the driver. Although we tackled that issue, we are getting more complaints and issues from customers. The amount of calls and emails we’re receiving is increasing.”