TLDR: should the driver of a Bolt (not a bolt taxi) be pushing up the final price even after a toll was paid, when the arrival time and distance is the same as Bolt’s original estimate?
Longer:
Last night I ordered a Bolt (Bolt ride, not a Bolt taxi via Bolt as Bolt said all of the Taxis were busy).
Anyway, it quoted me a price for the ride (230 b). Driver arrives, and first thing he asks is if I want to take the expressway/tollway because it will make the trip faster.
My first thought is that the Bolt price was based on a time estimate of 30 minutes, and so if we take the expressway instead and do the trip in 20 minutes, does that change the Bolt price?
I’m not sure how this works but I agree and pay 50 b for the tollway, and this makes that part of the trip fast, but then we exit the tollway and are back in regular traffic, which is congested.
At this point the driver tells my GF (because I don’t speak Thai but she is Thai) that the final price might be higher than Bolt showed due to the heavy traffic we are in now.
I push back and indicate that we are already arriving a minute or two earlier than Bolt originally estimated because I opted for the tollway, why would the Bolt price go up now just because we are in some traffic near the very end of the trip?
The driver didn’t bump up the final price after I pushed back. I think he understood me even though he had earlier been acting like he didn’t understand English.
I do see on the Bolt FAQ/TOS that the final price could be higher due to heavy traffic or other things, but it isn’t very clear if they are talking about the Bolt “Bolt” service or the Bolt “Taxi” service, and it also doesn’t say anything about why this would be the case if the time to the final destination, and the km, are the same as their original estimate.
https://support.taxify.eu/hc/en-us/articles/115002906513-Price-higher-than-expected
Bolt had estimated that a taxi fair to my destination would have been 150-170b, but then it said no taxis were available and offered me a Bolt at 230 (by the way, the Bolt that showed up was a metered taxi).
The prior two times I’ve taken Bolt here nothing like this came up… just private cars (not taxis), no offer of the tollway, price changes, etc.
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