Residents of Delhi can enjoy Uber rides for the next couple of days without having to fear surge prices; the feature on ride-hailing apps that raises fares when demand for taxis in a certain area is higher than the supply. Thanks to the current suspension of the feature recently forced upon both Uber and Ola- a local ride-hailing company, by the government of India’s National Capital Territory.
Thing is, Delhi’s government recently began a pilot scheme to reduce the number of cars on its road as a way to reduce air pollution. With fewer cars on the road, there was a higher demand for taxis, which in turn led to higher surge prices, especially at peak periods. Delhi commuters ended up venting on social media about the high fares they had to pay, thus causing the government to force the companies to suspend the feature till 30 April when the scheme would end.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to criticize surge pricing, calling it “daylight robbery” while saying in another tweet that the ban would be made permanent. Over 60 cars were said to have been seized for surge pricing by the transport department since the suspension.
Uber maintains that it uses surge pricing to motivate more drivers to get online when demand is high even though some argue that this isn’t necessarily the case.
In defence of the affected companies, Kejriwal made it clear that the government wasn’t against taxi aggregators, “We are not against taxi aggregators. We fully support them. They provide important service to people. But they will have to follow law” he said. In India, both Uber and Ola do not use private contractors (like they do in Nigeria) but rather fleets of taxi drivers, hence they’re subject to stricter regulations.
This news from India just stirs up all sorts of questions in my mind like;
Does surge pricing actually increase the number of Uber cabs available when demand is higher, like Uber claims? (in Nigeria specifically).
Do you think Uber should be banned from using the surge pricing feature in Nigeria? Why? Why not?
Is there any law or regulation in Nigeria that would make that possible?
Too many questions I know, but I can’t help it.
I’m looking forward to your comment…..
