Bengaluru Woman Claims Ola Driver Abused Her For Not Paying Extra: 'A Harrowing Experience'

In major cities like Delhi and Bengaluru, many people rely on app-based cab bookings for their day-to-day commute. In recent years, there have been several instances where passengers have complained of drivers demanding more money than shown in the app. Recently, a woman took to X (formerly Twitter) to share one such incident where a driver ended up verbally “abusing” her after she refused to pay an extra Rs 114. The woman, Tanisha Mallya, shared this “harrowing and unsettling experience” in a series of posts. She mentioned that at the start of her Ola cab ride, the fare shown on her phone was Rs 347-356 for a 25 km journey.

However, when her journey came to an end, the cab driver asked her to pay Rs 470 and claimed that they covered about 45 kilometres. When she mentioned that the fare shown in the app was Rs 347-356, the driver started shouting at her.

She recalled, “When I fought back that he should take this up with Ola not me, he got out of the vehicle & started using swear words and asked me to get back in the auto so he can “leave me where he picked me up” & that I should raise an issue w/ customer support if I don’t want to pay him Rs 470.”

Tanisha Mallya paid him Rs 356 and walked to her apartment gate but the driver started shouting expletives at her. She shared that she was lucky to escape unharmed due to a number of factors. Firstly she could speak in Kannada fluently which helped her in communicating with the driver, her drop location was just below her apartment so her family could come to her support, and the incident took place at 8.10 pm which was not very late into the night.

Tanisha Mallya mentioned that she has not received any support from Ola. She also highlighted the Ola cab fare change update and wrote “Ola Cabs has started a new fare system based on meter trends and hence there’s a range for payment. But that does not mean the driver can ask for any amount & the customer should pay.”

Her post has already gathered over one lakh views, prompting many to share similar negative views of Ola cab rides. An X user commented, “After travelling in Bangalore and Hyderabad autos and looking at the driver’s attitude, I started respecting Mumbai auto wallahs a lot.”

Another person wrote, “Bangalore and its cab stories should be a series of Crime thriller movies. Bangalore cabs should be its own genre.”

It will be interesting to see how Ola responds to this complaint and clarifies how passengers and drivers should negotiate the fare in case there is a discrepancy.