)
A few politically motivated groups, including the Mumbai Autorickshaw-Taximen’s Union (MAU), have publicly threatened to shut down ridesharing services in the cities of Mumbai and Pune, according to a statement by Uber. The groups have resorted to violence; assaulting drivers, damaging cars, and stealing equipment.
Thousands of drivers have fled the roads in fear.
In the past, MAU went on a day-long strike demanding the ouster of taxi aggregator services such as Uber and Ola. However, this has now taken a violent turn.
“We were shocked when one of our partners sent us pictures of vandalized cars yesterday. This is only one example from a series of attacks on our driver-partners,” the statement said.
The group’s campaign is aimed at pressurising the government to pass laws which would restrict the growth of the taxi start-up industry in the state of Maharashtra, which includes Mumbai, Pune and other large cities.
The group has proposed a restriction on fares for the start-ups; which would effectively result in a price ceiling intended to protect conventional taxis from competition.
Uber says its service will be adversely affected if these laws are implemented. It will become less reliable and more expensive to provide on-demand taxis as a resulting shortage of cars would hit them hard.
Interestingly, unlike Uber, rival service Ola aggregates kaali peeli (black and yellow) taxis in Mumbai as well. It remains to be seen whether they’re feeling the heat too. Tech in Asia has reached out to Ola for comment and will update the article accordingly.
This is an exceprt from Tech in Asia. You can also access the article here.
