App Cabbies Are Nothing But A Nail in the Coffin for Regular Yellow Taxis

With every step humans are leaving behind the useless resources and are moving forward with the design that suits them well. We have followed the path of evolution from the very first step of our birth and better to say the path of more comfort. The dark side of this bright looking future is the danger posed for the drivers of yellow taxis. The rate of unemployment for the drivers who owns such traveling vehicles is increasing badly. The app based cabbies have several attractive schemes for the customer that is incomparable with the benefits they get through normal taxis. People don't care for such intricate issues, they just want a cheap and sometimes a comfortable ride and that's it for them. Whoever will provide them preferably with economical advantage would rule the market. At the moment, app based cabbies are ruling the market.

Drivers are blaming the companies for giving illegal benefits to the customers, and also state the fear of unemployment. The government is the deciding body. Drivers are engaged in hartals, strikes throughout the country opposing the app cabbies. Protest like indefinite strike is now a common scene in metro cities.

People associated with auto rickshaw and yellow taxis are stating many problems and unfair rules which are the source of success for these cabs.

Some of them be like-
● Unfair Rules : There is a Motor Vehicle act under which all the transport services like auto rickshaw and taxis work. According to these rules, the fare prices and rules are decided by a union and not by taxi drivers. But the cabs like Ola and Uber don't come under this act. This makes them free to set the fare prices at lower rate and attract the customers. And sometimes even taking more money on the name of surge pricing.

● The app based cabs give more money to get the permits and licenses. These cabs then get the larger area to cover. The yellow taxis on the other side have almost fixed track. Going any further from the permitted region can cost them a lot. This makes cabs to grab the longer tours and whereas the common taxi driver fails for the same.

● The government is not providing more permits to the kali-peeli taxis anymore. As a result, the number of taxis have reduced to over 20,000 in the past decade. On the other part of the picture, the app based cabs are issuing old and expired permits from the common taxi drivers by offering more money. They run on the roads based on these permits. Also, in many occasions these cab driver enjoy unfair advantage during checking period. With the license of Cab company, these are allowed to cover more parts of the city without any barriers. From such regulations, app based cabs are allowed to run as many taxis as they want, but it's not the same with other sectors. With consideration of increasing population, government must had increased the permits.

More people are opting cabs over the taxis and this has reduced the monthly income of a common taxi driver. Earning from 2000-2500 a month it has deceased to 1000-1200 per month. The problem is supposed to get increased in the upcoming years as the mobile phone users are rapidly increasing in the country. Moreover, with the increasing demand of cashless transactions and the apps like paytm, it is for sure that only cabs might be seen dominating the streets of the country.

The unions are opposing the promotion of cabs and demanding for the fair rules. The indefinite strikes and protests is definitely going to get high on as the government takes further steps towards digitalization. The only hope for these taxi drivers is now the statement by the government. Rules must become fair and equally levied to all. All cabs and any kind of transport services must come under the common Motor Act. No one should be independent to decide the fare prices and it should be common for all.

“With the extensive rise in the use of Smart phones and its ease of accessibility, more and more people are getting attracted towards the app based technologies/business. With an app on the Play Store/ App Store any business can ensure better reach to the users, as compared to Website or Offline availability. It is because with an app, it’s all about a few clicks and the service is at the doorstep. With an app, a business owner can ensure its reach even to the specially-abled too, who are an important part of our society and are making an important contribution to the economy. Hence, in the current technologically advanced society it is a mandate and highly recommended to have an app for your business”, comments Mr. Rahul Mishra, CEO, U-Ryd Transport Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

These were some only methods through which auto-rickshaw and taxi owners could survive in the market that is going to be a complete dominance of latest technically best and comfortable app cabbies.