ISLAMABAD: The ‘peak factor’ of popular online cab services has become a continuous annoyance for customers forcing them to pay double or triple bucks for regular users.
“The cab services are using peak factor as a tool for getting more money from citizens during office or rash hours and also in harsh weather”, Naema Nasreen a daily commuter said.
These companies are trying to squeeze money from customers while claiming to provide them with better services, she commented.
“I usually pay Rs 200 to Rs 250 to go reach my university but in peak factor, I have to pay Rs 450 to Rs 500 which is totally unjustified”, she complained.
She said earlier, the peak factor ratio ranges between 1.2 to 1.5 but now it has jumped to 1.8 to 1.9, which is not affordable especially for students.
She shared that the online service is a good and secure facility and parents prefer it for girls but these cheating tactics by the companies are now getting on our nerves.
Shabana Parveen another frequent user said the service was convenient comparing to local transport or yellow cab but since they started peak factor, she was paying around Rs 15,000 to Rs 18,000 as cab fare costing around half of my salary.
She said on special occasions like Eid or national days their peak factor touches sky high prices which were obviously out of reach.
She said, “Cab services take undue advantage from people through peak factor.”
When contacted an official of online cab service, she said peak factor means when the demand for cabs increases and its supply is limited. Automatically fares are increased to manage the commuters demand, she added.
She said in future they would try to reduce the peak factor as they focus to facilitate the commuters with ease and comfort.