Since there have been incidents of traditional taxi drivers assaulting and threatening taxi drivers working for app-based services, many of them avoid going to the airport or railway stations at odd hours.
App-based taxi services have been having a tough time in Kerala ever since they launched. Now, the latest news is that app-based taxi services to and from airports in cities across Kerala will no longer be available. This is not because the companies have stopped them, but because traditional taxi and auto drivers in the state have been threatening the other drivers.
A report in Deccan Chronicle states that Uber was initially paying an additional incentive of Rs 90 for a single trip to Nedumbassery airport but has stopped it now. PRS Kumar, president, Kerala Online Taxi Drivers Union has told the daily that there is more demand for taxis but not enough taxis available, so companies are offering cash incentives to drivers when they work longer hours. He has stated that as per the latest wage structure, a driver gets paid Rs 4,300 for 19 trips on a single day and Rs 1,700 for 10 trips. These companies have also apparently removed peak and non-peak hour slabs. Now, it's only the number of trips a driver makes that count.
Going by the numbers, as of December 2015, there are 3,107 online taxi drivers in the Ernakulam region while there are 350 in Thiruvananthapuram. Kumar has told the daily that traditional taxi drivers still continue to threaten them and that they were planning to file an affidavit in court. Since there have been incidents of traditional taxi drivers assaulting and threatening taxi drivers working for app-based services, many of them avoid going to the airport or railway stations at odd hours.
Now, the Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) is also set to implement a ‘flexi-rate’ system in its proposed ‘e-Cabs’ which is similar to these app-based taxi companies.Transport Commissioner Tomin J Thachankary has told the daily that they have submitted the report to the government. This means more the demand, more the rates would be and vice-versa, he stated.
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