Protesting against low fares, Ola, Uber drivers might go off road on Tuesday

The drivers of two app-based cab aggregators Ola and Uber on Monday threatened to go off roads for a day against “low fares.” Commuters in Delhi-NCR may face hardship in hiring taxis on Tuesday.

This is the second round of strike called by the drivers.  They had gone on strike in February too, which had lasted 13 days, causing inconvenience to commuters in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad.

The strike might hit private transport service in Delhi and other neighbouring cities as some groups of tourist taxi providers, autorickshaw union, as per agitating Sarvodaya Drivers’ Association, have extended their support to it.

The Association, which claims to represent around 1.25 lakh app-based taxis in the the Delhi-NCR, demands that fares be increased from existing Rs 6 per km to around 20 per km.

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It also demands abolition of 25 per cent commission the drivers are charged by companies.

Ravi Rathore, vice-president of the Sarvodaya Drivers’ Association, said drivers will take out a protest march against the Delhi government which, he alleged, is not intervening to resolve the issue.

“The protest march will be taken out from Majnu-ka-Tila to the CM’s residence in North Delhi’s Civil Lines area. There is anger among drivers that government is not intervening in raising their issues with Ola and Uber,” Rathore said.

He said the association has called for the one-day strike in favour of the demands and if companies and government do not pay heed, they will go on an indefinite strike.

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According to the association, app-based cab companies made “tall promises” to drivers—like they would earn as much as Rs 1.5 lakh every month.

“But the situation is different. They are making us run taxis at Rs 6 per km while they charge 25 per cent from us,” Rathore also said.

Contrary to the association’s claim that most autorickshaw and tourists associations have decided to lend their support to the strike, Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh and Delhi Pradesh Taxi Union (yellow-black taxis) said they will not participate in it.

“We will not support the strike in Delhi,” Rajendra Soni, general secretary of both the associations, said.

During the February strike, the Delhi-NCR commuters faced hardship as the companies had resorted to surge pricing during morning and evening peak hours.