KOCHI: As the traditional auto-taxi drivers declare an open war against the online taxi service by holding protest march and keeping off road on Thursday, the public says the stir would serve no purpose.
The protestors have demanded scraping of online taxi services like Ola and Uber in the city.
According to the public, there is no clear justification for traditional taxi and auto drivers to hold a protest as they have only been fleecing the public till now.
Many said that though they criticize the surge charges implemented by the online taxis during peak hours, the auto rickshaws plying in the city rarely put on the metres.
When contacted, some online taxi users said they switched to Ola and Uber after getting fed up with the services of traditional auto rickshaws and taxi service.
“Strikes and protests are meant to protect our basic rights, but what is the case here? They themselves don’t follow the rules, then how can they protest against online taxi services? In Kochi, most auto rickshaws ply without installing fare meter and those who have it too charging hefty amount,” said Sanjay, an IT professional who shares the experience of frequent altercations with autorickshaw drivers over the fare.
He says he can’t support them. “They should learn to behave first. We have to be at their mercy and if they are ready to go, then we should pay as per their wish. If they are afraid of such corporate companies, then may be they should learn from them”.
Taking to the streets
It was on Wednesday that the traditional taxi and auto drivers decided to hold a strike on Thursday demanding a ban on online service providers such as Ola and Uber to save their means of livelihood.
According to them, with the entry of Ola and Uber the livelihood of over 10,000 traditional auto-taxi drivers are threatened. They also allege that the online taxi service providers function without appropriate licence and permit even after the government fixed a rate.
“They are doing so to monopolize the transportation system and wipe out the traditional drivers. Their’s is a profit-oriented system,” said John Jacob,general convener of Auto Taxi Employees Joint Strike committee while announcing the strike. They also alleged that when Uber and Ola charge huge fare as ‘surge’, no one has any complaint.