Fury, tears and heartburn as Ola, Uber drivers demand fair system

BENGALURU: Tempers ran high on Monday at Freedom Park where hundreds of cabbies operating for various taxi-hailing aggregators congregated to discuss their problems on fares and incentives.
The situation threatened to become a law and order issue when reports surfaced that some protesting cab drivers had snatched mobile phone devices from drivers who were not participating in the protest. Some affected cabbies turned up at Freedom Park and demanded that their stolen devices be returned.
At one point, the organizers had to plead with the protesters to return the snatched devices, claiming the drivers were in tears.One cab driver allegedly snatched devices from 16 cabs near Maharani's College, boasted an announcer at the venue.
According to police sources, following these snatchings, the protesters' meetings with the authorities were called off, citing security concerns.
The number of protesters, according to police sources, was close to 1,000 but drivers kept streaming in and out of the venue through the day .
Cab services in the city are thriving, however, at the cost of exploitation of cab drivers, the protesters claimed. The drivers were unanimous that the aggregators should implement the Rs 19.5 per km forAC cabs and Rs 14.5 per km for non-AC cabs, as fixed by the government.
But each driver had different woes to narrate: from discrimination to assault to exorbitant penalties. “A cab driver on lease system gets more trips and if you are attached to the aggregator, your chances of getting more rides are limited. There are different versions of the same app,“ said a cab driver.
Incentives based on the number on trips was no balm, they said. “Imagine if I get a trip to Marathahalli and another to Nagarabhavi from there. Considering traffic in Bengaluru, is it possible to do 20 trips a day?“ another driver asked. “If a passenger cancels a cab, he is charged Rs 50, but if I cancel a trip because of an emergency , I'm charged Rs 500.The poor are being punished,“ his colleague added.
Narayana Swamy, one of the leaders of the protesting groups, claimed they had called for a meeting with Ramalinga Reddy , transport minister, to address the issue.