Taxi drivers cancel rides on Chandigarh-Zirakpur stretch in peak hours

Tribune News Service

Gaurav Kanthwal
Zirakpur, February 27

Due to frequent traffic jams and long travel time, taxi drivers are cancelling rides on the Chandigarh-Zirkapur highway for the past sometime, say residents.

Also read: Open House: What should be done to streamline traffic on Chandigarh-Zirakpur stretch?

‘Unviable trip’

Cabbies cancel rides once they are told that the destination is Zirakpur. Snarls increase fuel consumption, making it an unviable trip for them. — Balkrishan Mehta, A commuter

Due to the long travel time in the morning and evening peak hours and traffic hassles, app-based taxi drivers are nowadays avoiding this stretch, making it tougher for people to commute on this stretch.

Zirakpur resident Swati Sachdeva says on Saturdays it is difficult to book a ride in the evening. “I had to return home from office in Sector 32, but no one was ready to go to the Zirakpur side. I tried booking a ride, but once I told the taxi driver, they would immediately cancel the ride after disconnecting. After trying three or four times, I had to take a shared auto.”

Motorists on the NH-5 get stuck in long traffic jams on a daily basis due to the under-construction underpass near the Chandigarh border. Office-goers and residents have to bear the brunt of the crawling traffic on this 2-km stretch. Another Zirakpur resident, Vivek Soni, an employee of the District Courts in Chandigarh, says, “Everybody knows that app-based taxi drivers cancel the rides once they are told that the destination is Zirakpur. Obviously, they do not want to waste their peak earning time in a traffic jam. Snarls increase fuel consumption, making it an unviable trip for them. While the taxi driver avoids the headache, it’s the commuter whose woes keep increasing,” said Balkrishan Mehta, a Chandigarh resident and sales executive in a hyper market, who travels to Zirakpur daily.

Taxi drivers, on their part, say two to three-hour trip in a traffic jam makes no financial sense for a Rs200 ride.

“The fuel prices are rising. We cannot afford to waste three hours on a trip that leaves us with nothing. After a hard day at work, nobody wants to wilfully drive into a traffic jam,” said Gurwinder Singh, an app-based taxi driver.

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