CHENNAI: Lambasting the unfair practices of Ola and Uber for offering cheap rates to customers at their expense, drivers said they are paying a rather high commission of close to 30 per cent to the taxi aggregators every day. With monthly incomes dwindling, they said it is proving to be very hard to sustain a livelihood and support families.
The situation has been made worse by Tamil Nadu government’s decision to revise VAT, thereby sending fuel prices higher than before.
“There is no system in place at these two firms to hear our grievance. In fact, if we go to their local office with a problem, we are treated roughly and threatened that we will be removed from their roll,” Ganesh, a driver said. According to B Anbalagan of CITU, there are over 32,000 cabs plying for Ola and Uber in Chennai, out of which around 1,300 drivers are registered with the union. “Based on input got from 19 busy areas in the city, we found that as much as 80% of cabs were not plying,” he said.
In a message displayed on its mobile application, Uber said: “We are facing external disruptions in our operations today which may affect your Uber experience,” adding that they are working to bring more cars on the roads at the earliest.
With demand not matching supply, the two firms went for surge pricing. However, several frequent users were discouraged by the high fares and resorted to using other modes of public transport.
John Matthew, a resident of T Nagar, wanted to reach Egmore to attend an private engagement at around 3 pm. But, he was shocked to find that the “estimated Ola Mini fare was `332, when usually it is around `150.” He dropped plans to take a cab altogether.
Monday’s development follows similar protests in cities like Delhi and Bengaluru. Thousands of drivers went on an strike for over 10 days in Delhi last month, while the protest in Bengaluru is yet to be called off completely. Officials from both Ola and Uber could not be reached for comment.