Longer waiting time, cancellations and double the usual fare — app cab commuters had a harried time on Monday as many drivers stayed off the roads in response to a strike call issued by the West Bengal Online Cab Operators Guild.
The guild, an unorganised body of app cab drivers and owners, has called the two-day strike from Monday to protest the alleged delay by the aggregators in transferring money to their accounts and alleged police excesses.
At many places, operators who joined the strike stopped the cabs that ran and ordered the passengers to get off. At other pockets, protesters chased cabs and prevented the drivers from picking up passengers.
Across platforms, the message that most commuters saw flash on the apps was that fares were higher because of increased demand.
Passengers pouring out of Sealdah and Howrah railway stations faced difficulty in finding an app cab. Many passengers at both stations said they were unaware of the strike.
Quite a few said the drivers of yellow cabs were exploiting the situation and demanding exorbitant fares.
At Howrah station, some passengers approached civic police volunteers and police for help around 9.30am. As complaints about steep fares being charged by yellow taxis kept pouring in, some cops intervened around an hour later and forced drivers to ferry passengers at normal rates.
At Sealdah station, a passenger headed for a hospital in Salt Lake was pulled out of an app cab. He was, however, allowed to go later.
On Chowringhee Road, a woman alleged that a group of protesters stopped the cab she had booked to go to Dum Dum and ordered her out. The gang snatched the driver’s phone.
“I waited for some time trying to get an app cab in the morning,” the woman said. “The bookings were getting cancelled. Finally, I got one. On Chowringhee Road, some youths blocked our way and forced the driver to stop. I was asked to get down. The gang then attacked the driver and took away his phone.”
As the day progressed, with more and more vehicles disappearing from the roads, the fares kept shooting up.
A trip between Sealdah and Ultadanga around 11am usually costs around Rs 200. On Monday, an app cab aggregator was demanding Rs 350 to Rs 400.
An hour later, another aggregator demanded Rs 728 for a ride from Howrah to Behala, against the usual fare of Rs 500.
“We have decided not to enforce the strike on Tuesday even though it’s a 48-hour strike,” said Indranil Banerjee, general secretary of the guild. “Those who pulled out passengers are not our members. We believe our demands have been conveyed to the authorities.”
Uber “regretted” the disruption and said it was “committed to serving the city”. Ola refused to comment.
In December, the guild had gone on a strike and resorted to violence, forcing other drivers to join a protest against the aggregators’ alleged decision to suspend drivers based on customers’ complaints without hearing them out.
No app-cab aggregator was willing to say the number of vehicles on its platform. Transport department sources put the app cab count at 23,000.
As for yellow taxis, 21,830 are registered with the transport authorities.