Ola and Uber are giving us a comfort service by picking up from our location and dropping to the point where we want instead of going out and looking for auto like before. But, safety is the primary concern here, specially for women.
We often hear our ears of how unprofessionally cab drivers behave often having passenger safety their top priority.
Recently a horrifying story is narrated by a woman who was riding Ola from Bengaluru airport to the city.
Twitter user Akanksha Hazari wrote her story and mentioned it as the scariest ride of her life. Her story puts a huge question mark on the safety of women while using the service.
2nights ago, Dec 10 night, bet 11-2am I was harassed & nearly assaulted on an @Olacabs ride from Bangalore Airport>City. I am sharing my story because after 3days of followup, I have received no update & in fact been charged for the scariest ride of my life.This is what happened
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
A driver took the other route gave an excuse of not having enough cash to pay for a toll and also turned off the GPS direction.
I got into the @Olacabs at 11:31pm time at Bangalore airport. The route directed the driver to take the Toll road into the city. The drive turned off this route towards the back road to avoid the toll, claiming he had no cash. The back road is a narrow, long and unlit.
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
She requested driver to take the route directed by the map.
One that I (& many women I know) are uncomfortable going via, especially at night. I was alone in the car, at this point past midnight, & felt uneasy about this route. I asked the driver to please turn around & go back to the toll road & follow the route directed by the app.
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
Driver became rude and asked her to get out pf the cab without thinking about the safety of her at the middle of the night.
This is when things went terribly wrong. The driver became aggressive & told me to get out of the car. I protested. How can he leave me on the side of a dark back road, in the middle of the night, no alternatives, far outside the city? All I saw was darkness & a few men loitering
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
She pressed a SOS button and got a call back from Ola executive.
I immediately pressed the Ola emergency button & got a call back. I explained the situation to the @Olacabs Safety exec & he spoke to the driver. The agent spoke to me again; he said the driver who will drop me to the location & that the exec was now actively tracking my ride.
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
After incident the trip continued, but the driver started to talk on phone
He promised if there was any deviation from my route he would contact me immediately. I believed him & continued on the trip, just wanting to get to my destination & out of the car asap. A few minutes go by & now my Ola driver starts to make a calls.
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
I politely ask him if he could not make calls while driving. Not only for road safety, but because like every woman I was wary of who he could call to our location at this time of night. He spoke in Kannada so I couldn’t understand the conversations. He doesn’t stop.
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
A little later, the driver altogether stopped his car and started making his calls again.
A few kms further down he stops the car on the side of a poorly lit road and turns of the engine. He continues to make calls. Now I am really scared. There is nothing around me. Again only a few men loitering. I am not from Bangalore and I don’t know where I am.
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
The executive who was tracking vanished
I start to run through how I can get myself out of this situation. I am also wondering where the Ola Safety Exec who promised to be tracking my side is. The car as been stopped for a few mins now. He would see that if he was tracking the ride. But no call.
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
I immediately start to press on the emergency button again. 1..2…3…5…10 times, no call back. I call the police and give them the cars plate number. They ask where I am but I don’t know how to explain it. The call ends and I have no idea if they are coming or not.
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
The driver is out of the car continuing to make calls in Kannada. I don’t know whats happening, but I am now scared that I have limited time before whomever he is speaking to is also at our location. My phone is on 5%. I go into the Ola support menu.
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
Ola driver was busy in making his calls so, he even ignored the call from the executive.
*I* have to dial the service centre & explain everything again, in tears now, who forwards me to a totally new Ola Safety Exec. This Exec can hear my tears & panic. He starts trying to reach the driver who initially ignores his calls because he is making his own.
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
After he takes the executive’s call,and had a verbal fight, he gets back in the car to continue the trip with driver phone connected to the executive with speaker on.
Finally he takes the Exec calls. There is a very heated discussion. After some time, the Exec speaks to me & says has made the driver commit to dropping me to my destination. Further I am to take the drivers phone & he will stay on speaker until I reach, like a remote escort.
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
This way the driver is also unable to make more calls. I take the phone with the agent on speaker. The driver gets in the car & the ride starts again. The next 30-45 mins are incredibly stressful. I am doing my best to calm myself and stay alert in case anything further happens.
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
Finally, the horrifying story ends
In case I have to take action or even get out of the car & just run to keep myself safe. Finally I reach, leave the phone and get out of the car as fast as I possible can.
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
She even raised some serious question with the cab service company.
@Ola these are all the places you failed me:
1. How is this driver on the road in the first place? Your screening, training and safety processes are broken.
2. Why didn’t your emergency button work the second time? It is not an option for this button to ever fail.— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
3. Where was your first executive when the car clearly had stopped? I trusted him when he said he was tracking my ride & he failed me.
4. How dare you charge me for the most horrific experiences of my life – claiming that I “completed the ride”?— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
Most importantly:
5. Where is your follow up? I had to chase you for an update on the status of this driver (& refund! that never came). I still don’t know if you have taken him off the road, OR HE’S STILL OUR THERE PICKING UP OTHER WOMEN— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
This is not my first safety incident with you, but certainly the worst. Even those other times I have no idea what action you took with the drivers. You also always charged me anyway.
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
@Olacabs what are you doing to keep women safe, truly? Because right now, it looks like women are just a revenue stream to whom you do enough to *appear* to care, but you’re just in it for our $ in reality. Once you have it, you’re gone. @bhash @ola_supports
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
Bengaluru police was active and noted the incident, asked to DM the details for further necessary action.
I have shared the details over DM @BlrCityPolice
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
Thank you, I will follow up on these numbers. Some action should be taken against @Olacabs because they are putting these drivers back on the road
— Akanksha Hazari (@AkankshaHazari) December 11, 2018
To the horrific incident, Ola spokesperson responded with the following statement.
“We deeply regret the experience that the customer had to go through. The driver in question had been off-roaded immediately and had blacklisted from the Ola platform. Safety of customers is our top priority, and we are committed to ensuring that initiatives like the in-app Emergency button, a 24×7 Safety Response Team, and Ola Guardian amongst others, help our customers feel safe when they use the Ola platform. We have extended support to the police in sharing all the information to help them with the investigation”.
This is not the first incident happened. These cab drivers don’t fear. Cabs service need to bring in some serious changes for the safety of the passengers. These drivers are professionally trained as mentioned by the cab’s company but yet they choose to show such unprofessionalism.
