Mumbaiites face the surge as Olauber strike set to continue

Transport minister promises to look into demands, talk to management by Sat

MUMBAI: The strike called by Ola-uber drivers entered the fourth day on Thursday, leaving office-goers hassled during morning and evening peak hours.

The protest will continue on Friday, even as transport minister Diwakar Raote promised to look into their demands by Saturday.

Mumbai has around 45,000 to 50,000 app-based taxis. Their drivers are demanding a minimum base fare in the range of ₹100-150 depending on the type of car and a per-km fare of ₹18 to ₹23.

The drivers, under the banner of Maharashtra Rajya Rashtriya Kamgar Sangh (MRRKS), have been on strike since Monday.

“We interacted with Raote, who promised a discussion with the management of app-based cabs in the city. He has promised action in the next two days, but the strike will not be called off until our demands are met,” said Sunil Borkar, secretary, MRRKS.

Tired of the shortage of cabs and surge pricing, travellers took to social media to express their unhappiness. @MOOSZASZ tweeted to @ola_support, “When is ur strike @olacabs & @Uber goin to end in Mumbai? No cabs only since four days? What is wrong with U guys?”

The company’s handle responded back, saying they had no information on the strike, “Hi! We do not have much information on this. However, kindly check for the live availability of cabs in the app,”

@abhimurudkar921 tweeted, “@ola_supports when will the #olauberstrike end in Mumbai? Is Ola going to watch its customers suffering?”

Meanwhile, Raote has suggested that app-based cabs can

be considered as cool cabs.

“The city taxi scheme 2017 was brought in to monitor the aggregators, but the companies got a stay on it. I have given orders to take all necessary steps to get the stay vacated

from the high court. However, if app-based cabs are ready, we can explore options to consider them as cool cabs [which will bring them under the ambit of the state government],” he said.