Mumbai: Surge prices, over half-an-hour waiting time and trips ending before their destination were witnessed as disgruntled drivers of aggregator cab services Ola/Uber went on strike on Friday.
The protest turned violent later and five drivers were arrested by the Andheri police for vandalising some taxis and harassing those who tried to ply the service.
Almost 70 percent Ola/Uber drivers kept off the streets, inconveniencing passengers in the city with fares almost tripling due to unavailability of cars during peak hours.
The drivers were protesting against the companies cutting down their incomes, citing for instance low ratings by customers. They were also protesting against the lack of transparency by the companies, as they said while customers gave them good ratings, sometimes the company said they received below-par ratings.
Around 500-plus drivers held a protest at Azad Maidan and Andheri East at the headquarters of Ola office, after which the procession then went forward to Kurla Phoenix Mall where Uber offices are located. The surge prices seen as a result were almost triple the regular fare, said some of the passengers who did not realise that the strike was on. Abhishek Kulkarni (28) a translator who wanted to book a cab from Thane to Matunga, said, “I kept waiting for the surge prices to go down but instead I had no cabs, finally almost 45 minutes later I got an Ola that took more than Rs 1,500 from me.” He further added, “Even in the peak hours it usually takes me Rs 650 maximum.”
The protest turned violent at around 3 pm and some of the rebelling drivers began to deflate tyres and take away the phones of their colleagues to stop them from plying their taxis. A driver said, “I took my taxi out at around 9 am at Thane, I had switched on my device and was waiting at the station when a friend I know involved in the protest came with some two to three men.” He further added, “When I refused, they deflated my tires and took away my phone, he just refused to listen to me.”
