I had booked an Uber Auto from residence to the nearest railway station. The status of the app was that the driver was completing a trip nearby. A few minutes later the app showed as the rider 950 meters away (in the next street) and already punched I have Arrived button. I asked him he ought to take the immediate left and come the community gate. Hardly had me moved a few centimetre, when he again pulled over to click the button. This drama repeated a few times by the time he was made to arrive at the gate. Now when I tried to board the auto, he cancelled it stating it is timed out and hence cancelled. Clearly he was manipulating the platform’s time out logic to force a cancelation to gain the cancelation fee. Now he was asking where are we bound to. Clearly it means he wanted the ride off the platform. I declined him patiently because Uber contracted ride was already void by this time.
He was following us for a few years and pestering for the ride. When then ignored completely he bore a long face and moved off. This is a derivative of the old behaviour where the Uber Auto drivers used to catch rides and then pitch for a cancelation asking for the ride quoting the same price as shown in the app and sometimes a few bucks more than it. Above and beyond all, the drivers never entertain Digital Money and always look for cash payments.
Lavanya Deepak's Travel Journal 