Cab chauffeurs of two leading private companies protest peacefully to symbolically put across demands

Coimbatore: As a sign of peaceful protest against the unfair treatment they are put through and in a bid to make their plea heard by the government, a section of cab chauffeurs affiliated with Ola and Uber have uninstalled the respective apps from their mobile phones and are currently at home. 

The peaceful protest has entered its second day on Thursday in Coimbatore. The taxies will continue to stay off the road for the third and final day on Friday.

One of the cab drivers, T. Sounderajan, speaking on behalf of the protesting chauffeurs told SimpliCity, “The government has hiked the cost of petrol and diesel on one hand and on the other hand, the private companies we work for have not revised the tariff.”

He laments that the private companies continue to charge the chauffeurs the same percentage of commission and tax. Considering the other costs that are involved in running and maintaining the respective four wheelers, this allows them (the chauffeurs) to take home pittance, thus, making it difficult for them to make ends meet.

“Despite making several pleas to the respective decision making officials at Ola and Uber to revise tariff, the private companies refuse to even consider our request.” When probed on what could be the possible reason for the companies being reluctant of implementing a new tariff, Sounderajan said “The companies do not want to lose customers and eventually lose out on business. They continue to offer service to customers through their app with the same tariff that has been in place for many years now. 

Disappointed with the response from the company, we plan to approach the government requesting to have in place a standard tariff that the companies must charge customers, keeping in mind a spike in fuel cost.”

Registered with both Ola and Uber, he like many of his co-workers is authorised to service customers who book a cab through both the apps. It has been more than a decade since Sounderajan is a chauffeur. The last couple of years have been the tough for all of them. “In 2016, when cost of fuel was not as high as it today, both Ola and Uber charged chauffeurs 10% commission and another 10% as tax from the total bill amount that is payable by the customer who uses the service. 

However, currently, both the companies charge 20% as commission and another 23% as tax from the total bill amount. This in the backdrop of escalating fuel cost which shows no signs of coming down.” Sounderajan said. Left with no other option and to ensure that the chauffeurs are not taken for a ride, by the respective private cab service providers, the group plans to request the intervention of the government to make sure that things work for them and they are able to take home decent earnings to support their livelihood.

Sounderajan, who is speaking on behalf of the 2,000 to 2,500 odd Ola and Uber cab drivers is a graduate himself. He shares with SimpliCity that a majority of his colleagues have completed their under graduation.

Sharing the plight of one of his colleagues, Sounderajan tells SimpliCity that in January 2021, for a bill amount of rupees 2,500 that the customer paid, the cab driver who serviced the customer managed to take home a few hundreds, after the service tax and commission deductions and cost involved in keeping the taxi up and running. This is not an isolated case, he tells us.

Another aspect that has not gone down well with the chauffeurs is the fact that Ola has deducted the interest-free loan that was credited to its drivers account in March 2020, during the pandemic. “A sum of either rupees 3,000 or 5,000 was credited to our respective account in the name of covid relief fund. However, the company, (Ola) began deducting the amount in instalments from our respective accounts from this year onwards. Uber on the other hand also paid its select set of chauffeurs Rs 3,000 as pandemic relief fund and has no intentions of having the amount reimbursed from its staff.” Sounderajan said.

Currently, the team of chauffeurs is seeking the necessary permission from the concerned officials to host a press meet to convey their grievances to the public, the two private companies that they are affiliated with and to the government hoping for respite in some form.