Uber, Ola cabs to go off road today

Hyderabad: Cabs drivers and auto drivers unions have lent their support to the indefinite strike called by the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) that will affect thousands of riders and commuters who depend on public transport and taxi app services. Drivers of taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber would go off-road indefinitely on Saturday in support of TSRTC and in protest against alleged discriminatory practices.

The cab, auto and bus services are to be withdrawn across Telangana on account of indefinite strike called by the Transport unions after 14 days of indefinite TSRTC strike. The strike will be an 'offline' protest which means that the Ola and Uber drivers will not log in nor accept bookings.

The drivers and TCDOA have expressed their anguish over government recklessness and it will leave a majority of cab owners stranded. There is a possibility that Ola and Uber users will have a hard time getting a cab during office or rush hours.

Hyderabad going to be hit with thousands of passengers stranded on road. Shaik Sallaluddin, the president of Telangana Cab Drivers and Owners Association (TCDOA), said that, "Around 50,000 cab drivers in Telangana will go off road on Saturday. Demanding government control on the taxi aggregators and better working conditions like higher per-kilometre payout and compulsory KYC (know your customer) registration of customers to ensure safety of drivers.

We completely support TSRTC protest against the government over privatization of the public transport bodies. We demand government must at least organize committee to control the taxi aggregators and their biased business strategies they adopted."

"On a straight note, we could fill our pockets with more business as TSRTC is on indefinite strike. But, we stood for justice and supporting TSRTC as government is taking wrong decisions and putting a deaf hear over the demands of drivers for years," Sallaluddin added. Nadeem, a cab driver, said, "We are demanding the assured business to be given to the cab drivers of both Ola and Uber companies.

Previously the taxi companies used to deliver Rs 1.25 lakh of business per month which has lately been reduced to Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 now. In some scenarios, companies 'wrongly blacklisted' drivers and cab aggregators are not raising the compensation as there has been a slump in business lately." Ola and uber must stop plying their own cars and must reduce the commission they take from drivers, he added.

Moreover, cabbies were miffed that the companies were giving more privilege to the company-owned cars rather than driver-owned cars, causing a dent in their business.