8 in 10 app taxi users report dark patterns on ride platforms: LocalCircles

Hyderabad: App-based taxis have seen significant growth in India, transforming urban mobility with convenience and real-time services. However, they face persistent issues like surge pricing, frequent ride cancellations by drivers, long waiting times and concerns over passenger safety.

A survey by LocalCircles in July revealed that 59 per cent of app-based taxi users still face unfair trade practices and poor service. The survey also revealed that about 74 per cent of app-taxi users say that drivers cancel rides when they find out that the payment mode is digital, or the destination isn’t convenient to them or both.

About 59 per cent of the respondents said unfair practices and poor service continue, while only 18 per cent noticed any improvement. While the government has introduced regulations to address these and other dark patterns like hidden fees and manipulative interfaces, user dissatisfaction remains high, with ongoing challenges in drivers’ conduct and overall service quality.

In a new survey, LocalCircles focused on dark patterns used by app-based taxi services out of 13 identified by the CCPA (Central Consumer Protection Authority) and how they are impacting app-based taxi users.

Advanced or voluntary tipping?

One of the latest issues facing customers is the option of ‘advance payment’ started by ride apps.

In June, days after Union minister Pralhad Joshi asked CCPA to investigate why ride-hailing apps were nudging users for tips before the ride even began, the apps quietly introduced a ‘voluntary tip’.

Now, when users are booking a ride, the advance tip option comes with a little label that spells out ‘voluntary’. While the apps assure that ‘riders can skip the tip, and the app won't hold their ride’ according to the rising complaints on social media, drivers of the app-based taxi services cancel rides at the last moment for no specified reason.

How dark patterns work on app-based taxi platforms

The dark patterns on app-based taxi platforms tend to nudge or even force consumers to often make decisions contrary to what they would like.

Below are a few examples provided by LocalCircles of how consumers end up paying more than what was originally shown as the waiting time and fare by the app, and what they end up paying:

What is nagging?

Many users have qualified ‘advance tipping’ as nagging and demanded that a permanent disable option should be enabled by apps.

Nagging is used by the app to force a consumer who is booking a ride to add a tip in advance, with no option to disable the request permanently.

The user is shown a particular fare, and then it is ‘suggested’ in every ride that they must pay a tip in advance to increase their chances of getting a ride faster, with no option to permanently disable such a request.

As much as 78 per cent of app-based taxi users surveyed say that they have experienced a nagging approach by platforms where repeated pop-ups or prompts keep appearing, asking you to add tips, subscribe to a plan, enable notifications or download another app, even after they decline

What is bait and switch?

Bait and switch is used by taxi aggregators to mislead and attract consumers.

Despite knowing the consumer’s location and the location of the nearest cab, a very short time for cab availability is shown as bait for the consumers, so they go to the next step of confirming the booking. Once they confirm, the actual longer wait time is displayed to them.

As per the LocalCircles survey, 86 per cent of app-based taxi users surveyed say that they have experienced a bait and switch approach by the platforms, where the waiting time that is shown to them before they start booking a ride is significantly less than the actual time it takes for the driver to reach them

What is interface interference?

Interface Interference is used to discourage the consumer from cancelling a booked ride by making the cancellation process deliberately complex, confusing or inconvenient through deceptive design choices.

The cancellation flow is either hidden somewhere or made intentionally lengthy, requiring multiple screens and confirmation steps (e.g., ‘Are you sure you want to cancel?’, ‘Please select a reason’, ‘Yes, cancel’) to create friction and deter users who are in a hurry or frustrated.

Information about potential cancellation fees or policies might be buried in lengthy terms and conditions or linked to help pages, so the user is uncertain of the penalty until deep into the process.

As per the LocalCircles survey, 84 per cent of app-based taxi users surveyed say that they have experienced platforms where important options such as cancelling a ride, removing add-ons, or opting out of subscriptions are hidden or displayed in very small fonts, or designed in a way that makes them difficult to notice.

What is drip pricing?

In drip pricing, the customer is charged a significantly higher amount than the original quote.

It works by first showing the consumer a particular fare. Later, without traffic or route change and despite reaching the original destination on time, the user is made to pay nearly twice the amount as fare.

As much as 59 per cent of app-based taxi users surveyed say that they have experienced hidden charges (other than taxes) levied or drip pricing, which were not disclosed upfront but added when their ride transaction concluded.

What is forced action?

Sometimes, when a user books a ride but the driver doesn’t respond or show up. After waiting long, the user cancels the ride, and the taxi aggregator platform levies a cancellation fee, while in essence it is the driver who should be charged or penalised.

This experience, called forced action, often forces consumers to pay more tips in advance to ensure they get the next ride on time.

As much as 90 per cent of app-based taxi users surveyed say that they have experienced forced action where they were made to cancel a ride when the platform or its driver became unwilling to provide the ride/service that they signed up for.

In total, dark patterns in Indian ride-hailing apps are all pervasive, with forced cancellations, hidden fees, nagging and manipulative interfaces being particularly rampant. The need of the hour is for CCPA to speed up investigation and drive corrective action, such that the interest of the consumer is protected when using the services of taxi aggregators.

Extent of survey

LocalCircles said that its survey received 94,000 responses from app taxi users located in over 282 districts of the country. As many as 61 per cent of respondents were men, while 39 per cent of respondents were women; 49 per cent of respondents were from tier 1, 36 per cent from tier 2, and 15 per cent of respondents were from tier 3 and 4 districts.

Disclaimer: All screenshots used as examples of dark patterns in ride-sharing apps were present in the LocalCircles survey.