With many Ola, Uber drivers on strike in Hyd, RTC presses more buses into service

The drivers have been on a strike since December 30, and plan to continue the protest till January 4.
With many Ola, Uber drivers on strike in Hyd, RTC presses more buses into service
With many Ola, Uber drivers on strike in Hyd, RTC presses more buses into service
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With several thousand taxi drivers off the streets of Hyderabad till January 4 due to an ongoing strike, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) has pressed additional buses into service on high density routes.

"In view of the strike by cab drivers in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, TSRTC has made special arrangements for providing transportation to the IT corridor from bus stations and railway stations...Enforcement squads have been deployed for surveillance of the corridors to ensure clearance of traffic and to make necessary diversions wherever traffic holdups are observed. The above additional transportation facilities will be available till the private cab owners' association strike is called off or till January 4, whichever is earlier," the TSRTC said in a statement.

Meanwhile, it was reported that several auto drivers were fleecing customers, and taking advantage of the strike. Customers using Ola and Uber were also subject to reported surge pricing.

Last week, the drivers, under the Telangana Cab Drivers and Owners Association (TCDOA), stated that they will not resume services until their demands with respect to taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber are met.

There are several problems that the taxi drivers association has demanded be resolved.

Drivers allege that the managements of Ola and Uber have signed on more driver-cum-owners than the total requirement, in order to compete with each other and show themselves as the largest cab operator in the city, at least on paper.

After depending heavily on driver-cum-owners, the drivers allege that Ola started getting its own vehicles, following which existing taxi drivers are not getting a sufficient number of bookings. 

This has led to the existing drivers being unable to meet the targets set by the company, and also resulted in a steep decline in their earnings.

The drivers presently on strike, were also seen stopping other taxis that were running in the city.

Meanwhile, the TCDOA President Shiva Vulkundakar claimed that several cab drivers had extended their support to the strike, taking the number of taxis that will be off the road from 80,000 to 1 lakh.

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