Image for representation only.
Last-minute taxi booking cancellation and no-shows should be charged, some cabbies have suggested, saying passengers who don’t turn up after booking taxi rides now appears to be a growing problem.
“On a daily basis, I encounter around two or three passengers who either cancel their booking on the last minute or do not show up at all,” Mahmoud, a cabbie who works with one of the taxi firms, has expressed his utter frustration to this daily.
“Just imagine how much time and money I lose every day, driving a very long distance only to find out that the passenger has already taken another ride,” he said.
While some passengers cancel their bookings, most of them just don’t turn up, he added. Unlike App-based taxi booking companies like Careem, there is currently no cancellation fee being imposed by regular taxi companies, he said, so it is easy for passengers to cancel their bookings.
“Passengers who don’t show up are not fined; they are only blacklisted for a few days, afterwards they can book again,” he said.
Every minute counts for Mahmoud, who has to meet a monthly quota of QR8,000 to be able to have a commission to add up to his meager monthly salary.
“We are allowed to work for 12 hours every day and in my eight months in Qatar I have only exceeded my monthly target once,” he added.
Moneer, another cabbie, who has the same predicament, stressed something should be done about the issue.
“I only receive QR900 a month and this problem is an additional burden for me,” he said. Passengers who don’t give their exact location is another challenge for cabbies, he said. “Sometimes, they don’t provide their exact address. They only give a nearby landmark which again eats up our time and by the time we arrive at the destination, the customer has already taken another taxi,” he said. “Perhaps those who take another cab are in a hurry to get to their destination, but they should also consider the inconvenience they cause us,” he said, adding he also encounters passengers who refuse to pay the QR5 booking fee.
“The problem of No-show and last minute booking cancellation must be addressed because not only does it cause difficulty to taxi drivers, it also affects other passengers,” he said.
