Cabbies ‘harassed’ by paranoia over corona

The ongoing Covid-19 outbreak is causing major problems for app-based cab drivers. Customers, the few remaining ones, are refusing to sit in the cars if they deem them unclean. One customer on a shared ride, as per a driver’s account, stepped out of the vehicle as soon as someone in the car coughed.

Kumar, a driver affiliated with one of the two major cab aggregators, said that until last week he would spend 15 hours on the road for 20-25 trips every day. Since Monday, he has made less than 10 trips a day. “The airport is a major spot for us. But it has become a deserted place now,” he said, while recounting bizarre encounters with customers. One customer, he said, peered into the car, looked around and asked him to sanitise the vehicle right in front of him. “He insisted that I use some sanitiser solution to clean the handles. I said I didn’t have anything. He refused the ride and walked away.

Another customer shouted at me for not using a mask. The strangest customer was the one who gave me a 10-minute long lecture for sneezing in the car while driving!” he explained.

Reddy, another driver, said he was at GVK One to pick up a customer as part of a pool ride. “There were a few others in the back seat of the car. The new customer got in the car and sat in the front seat. Before I could move the car, the new person coughed lightly. One guy sitting in the back got livid and demanded to know how the man could cough like that!” he exclaimed. The older customer got down and left without paying. “When I complained to the company about him, they scolded me and blocked my account for a few hours,” he added. The drivers also noted that they would like to provide masks to their customers but they had gotten too expensive for them.

The drivers complained that both Uber and Ola could help them out. Reddy said, “We keep getting notifications in their apps, asking us to use masks and sanitisers. How can we do that if you (the companies) won’t provide them to us?”

Reddy said that in the short run, the companies could relax the incentive scheme and suspend EMI payments. Kumar said, “I bought my car through the aggregator and I pay the EMI on it every month. If they could allow us to not pay until this coronavirus business gets over, it would be a great help to me.”

● ONE CUSTOMER shouted at a cabbie for not wearing a mask

● ANOTHER ONE gave a 10-minute lecture for sneezing while driving