Uber hikes fares by 15% citing surge in fuel prices

The company said that the decision has been taken to mitigate the impact of the fuel price surge on drivers.

Mumbai: Amid a relentless surge in prices of fuel, app-based cab aggregator Uber on Friday announced that it will hike fares by 15 percent in Mumbai starting April 2. The company said that the decision has been taken to mitigate the impact of the fuel price surge on drivers.

The price of petro had breached the ₹100 mark in Mumbai on March 30. (REUTERS)

“We listen to feedback from drivers and understand that the current rise in fuel prices is causing concern. To help cushion drivers from the impact of the spike in fuel prices, Uber is raising trip fares in Mumbai by 15%. Over the coming weeks, we will continue to track fuel price movements and will take further steps as needed,” Nitish Bhushan, Head of Central Operations, Uber India and South Asia said in a statement.

The price of petro had breached the ₹100 mark in Mumbai on March 30. At present, diesel is being sold at ₹100.10 per litre while petrol costs ₹115.88 a litre in Mumbai.

Ola officials have said that they have not hiked the fares yet. This is the second fare hike proposed by Uber in the last one year. Earlier in July 2021, both Ola and Uber had hiked their fares by 15 percent.

Meanwhile, the traditional black-and-yellow cabs are also pitching for the fare hike. Al Quadros from Mumbai Taximen’s Association said that they will make a proposition to the state government.

“Fares have not been hiked for us since March 2020. During the pandemic, our business suffered a lot and we have made several proposals to the government to date. Now we will study the revised CNG prices and chalk out a new price formula and propose it to the administration,” Quadros said.

According to Uber’s fare calculation formula, they add the fixed base fare with a per-kilometre rate and travel time. The revised fare will be 15 percent of what it used to be earlier.

Shirish Deshpande from Grahak Panchayat said that the state government should intervene and monitor the fare hike implemented by private cab aggregators. “Vehicles like Kaali Peelis, Uber and Ola are all public transports and the government should bring out a policy to monitor the fare hike formulas. There is already a proposal pending in the Bombay High Court since 2020 filed by the Khatua Committee and the decision on the same is set to be made soon,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Maharashtra, the price for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) were reduced from April 1 onwards after the state government slashed the Value Added Tax (VAT) rates from 13.5 percent to 3 percent on Natural Gas.

Eyebrows are raised over the hike despite the reduction in the CNG as most of the vehicles in their fleets operate on CNG.