The much turbulent industry domain, private taxi services, have been consistently facing downturn from past few months.
This time Mumbai-based Kaali-Peeli taxis (black and yellow taxis) have gone on strike demanding ban on San Francisco-based online taxi-hailing company, Uber; Indian cab & auto booking startup, Ola and Bangalore-based online taxi aggregator, TaxiForSure.
It is estimated that about 10,000-15,000 taxi drivers are expected to participate in this agitation, which is started by Swabhiman Taxi-Rickshaw Union, led by Nitesh Rane, son of Congress leader Narayan Rane.
According to a taxi driver, “App-based taxis have affected our business very much. We do not get long-distance customers nowadays. For several days, I have not got a single customer for Thane, which was not the case earlier.”
Kaali-Peeli taxis had recently entered into a partnership with Ola, wherein Mumbaikars could book taxis on its mobile app. Also, another cab hailing service provider, BookMyCab, has the same feature, wherein users can book Kaali-Peeli taxis from the platform.
The taxi market has recently been facing flak from its driver partners. A week earlier Uber faced heat from over 500 registered drivers in Hyderabad accusing the company for not meeting its commitment on business and giving incentives.
In a separate case, Uber, in a blog had mentioned that its driver partners in Mumbai and Pune were assaulted, their cars were damaged and the company-owned equipment (mobile phones) were taken away by the protestors.
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