A year after strike, taxi unions still wait for app

After more than a year since the first strike by black and yellow taxi drivers against application-based aggregators like Ola and Uber, unions have been unable to drum up the minimum numbers to launch an application of their own.

The Mumbai Taximen Union (MAU) has been trying to get taxi drivers to come forward and enroll with the union to be a part of the application, as a countermeasure for business going away to the popular Uber and Ola taxis.

A source for within the Union said, “We have been spreading the word, in fact a few newspapers have done a report asking the taxi drivers to come forward to our office in Mumbai Central,” said the source.

A few of the taxi drivers this newspaper spoke to were not even aware that the Union has been asking for information.

A taxi driver who introduced himself as just Rahim outside Dadar station said, “They are always doing something, but I had no idea the Union had asked the drivers to come forward and enroll for the application.”

When The Asian Age contacted MAU president A.L. Quadros to ask if the number of black and yellow for the application was indeed as low as 1,000 he said, “We have enough time because we want to launch it by end of this month or the beginning of the next so there will be no problem as such.” There are around 40,000 taxis in the city, out of which almost all had gone on strike back in September 2015.

At the time Transport minister Diwakar Raote had assured the unions that the issue would be resolved soon.