Mumbai app taxi drivers go on strike, commuters inconvenienced

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, September 19

Drivers belonging to Ola and Uber app-based taxis have gone on strike in Mumbai inconveniencing commuters and pushing up fares sharply.

Banded together under the banner of Action Committee for Maharashtra, the taxi drivers have switched off their mobile phones thus going offline and making themselves unavailable for commuters.

However, services from the two service providers haven’t completely been disrupted though the committee said in a statement that most of the 45,000 Ola and Uber cabs in Mumbai are off the roads.

Though apps belonging to the two service providers are showing very high fares, users complained on social media that the cabs were not available.

The regular taxis haven’t increased fares though cabbies were charging more for using the air-conditioners installed in them, commutes said.

“We decided to go on strike at a meeting called on Monday evening. The strike is with effect from Monday midnight,” Yakub Mehta of the Action Committee said.

Meanwhile, drivers of the app cabs who have joined another union, said they would go on an indefinite strike later this week.

Apart from reduced commissions to the app providers, the drivers are demanding security after several app-based cabs were attacked by commuters recently over surge in pricing.