KOZHIKODE: The repeated incidents of physical assault on drivers, harassment of passengers including women and children and attack on cabs, have led to many online taxi services withdrawing from the city. However, the most daring ones are continuing and making a difference. Almost all other prominent cities in the state have approved the presence of affordable services provided by online taxis.
In the Town police station limit alone, two cases were reported in 2016 and 2017 each. All the incidents were reported when the taxis were either taking or offloading passengers coming or going from the railway station. According to police, one case was registered when a she-taxi driver was verbally abused and the passengers were prevented from entering the cab.
Mango cabs, that started operations in July 2016, had to wrap up by the beginning of 2017 and its franchise fee of around Rs10 lakh is still pending, said the former operations head here. Though talks were held with the district collector and people’s representatives, a consensus could not be reached and they had to agree to the same rates provided by traditional taxis. However, Ola Cabs were not ready to surrender to the physical assaults by the traditional taxis and they did not compromise with the rates too. At present, the city has 75 drivers operating and charging a minimum fare of Rs 35, whereas their opponents charge Rs150. Ola cabs charge only Rs 9 per one hour for small cabs and Rs 11 for sedans.
Ragesh Velluvakkandi
“It’s just the willpower of the Ola cab drivers that keeps them going. We have the verdict in our favour that supports the cab, driver and the passengers,” says one of the Ola drivers, Ragesh Velluvakkandi.
District Collector U.V. Jose said that the district administration also understood the insecurity faced by online taxis and passengers. “A meeting was convened in the presence of the RTO. We will officially announce protection for the online taxis to safely operate in the district,” he added.
CITU national secretary Elamaram Kareem said that the traditional taximen’s objection was expected as already they were running out of business. “The objective of the online taxis is anyway not beneficial to society. They want to control the market by lowering the charges initially,” he said.
