Fearing attacks, Ola and Uber drivers stay off the roads

Drivers of app-based cabs Uber and Ola, kept their vehicles off the road on Wednesday for fear of being attacked by supporters of the autorickshaw strike. Sources said that the opinion that aggregators earn a lot of money during such strikes have put a target on the back of such drivers.

After news reports were published that Ola and Uber earned 30-35 per cent more than usual when taxi and autorickshaw unions went on a strike last year, Uber drivers have said they did not want to take a risk by venturing out to work.

Commuters like Tehmina Sabuwala (27), a market researcher and a resident of Kurla, said she had to wait for over 30 minutes for an Ola cab to Andheri. “Kurla to Andheri is a popular route and I usually get a cab in the matter of minutes after I book it, but today I had to wait for almost half-an-hour from when I stepped out at 8.00 am,” Ms Sabuwala said.

Readers may recall that one Ola taxi and a media vehicle were smashed on June 21 outside Azad Maidan, where the Jai Bhagwan Taxi and Rickshaw Sanghatana (JBTRS) had held a rally. “I switched off my app and remained unavailable until almost late afternoon, as I didn’t want to take the risk of any of the union goons damaging my cars. Since news reports have been saying that we are earning a lot of money during these strikes, a lot of union members have begun to specifically target (app-based cabs) like at the incident at Azad Maidan,” said an aggregator driver requesting anonymity.

Both Ola and Uber began to send their users notifications that no surge pricing would be charged on the passengers during the morning peak hours, which is when the strike was at its peak effect.