The Ola drivers have a good thing going at Delhi Airport. When you arrive and ask for a taxi, inevitably a vehicle which has just dropped a pax at departure, will answer your call being the closest. I f you are unfamiliar with the system, like me, they'll take you for a ride, literally. You see, the airport has a fee of Rs 150 for every commercial vehicle, which is applicable whether you enter at departure or at arrival. The driver who is at departure, i.e., on the top floor, will tell you it's going to cause delay to drive around to your floor, and it will cost you an extra 150 bucks, so why don't you come up, and save time and money. So you lug your luggage over two floors, over a kilometer of crowded sidewalk to find your cab, which will inevitably be at gate 8 whereas you landed at gate 2 or 3. Why is he at gate 8, which is the farthest? You see, he's dropped his pax at gate 3-4, and the traffic guys ask him to move on. He doesn't leave, he just keeps nudging his car forward till a bum comes along and asks for a ride, which happens every second.
So you finally find him, after pushing your trolley with a couple of suitcases, and find the taxi. When you reach home, you get horrified to find you're still charged with airport fee, whereas this guy had conned you into believing you're saving money. In my case, the driver, a very talkative Devinder Singh, who was listening to our conversation in the back seat all the time, interjecting with his unasked for wisdom every now and then, had also recorded our conversation while we were booking his cab. Somewhere, this crook had slipped in that fees are charged on bill at departure as well as arrival, something cleverly camouflaged in a barrage of talk, when you're tired and don't pay attention after hectic travelling.
When confronted, the man offered to share his spoils with me and tried to give me a 100-Rupee note. You see, he charged both pax 150 each, but paid only once, i.e., when he entered the airport to drop his pax. He didn't pay my fees because he never moved. I had to pay the fee as well as walk up two floors.
The drivers can't seem to keep to themselves and listen in to the pax conversation, interrupting with their opinions and judgments, which is extremely impolite. I can believe how they must have traumatized all those women who have complained about sexual harassment. A pain.
