Uncertainty grips drivers as Karnataka govt battles Uber, Ola

Bangalore: The unease is evident the minute you ask the drivers how things are faring for them. It does not matter whether the taxi has been hired through Uber or Ola app. [caption id=“attachment_2737850” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] News18[/caption] Mohammed Sadiq is a bit more apprehensive than Swamyya. Both have heavy loans on their heads. Sadiq pays Rs 15,000 a month for his Indica. Swamyya pays Rs 13,500 for his Maruti Ritz. Both are only a few months old into the business, with their EMIs or equated monthly instalments. It is not the loan amount alone that matters to them as much as their earnings from the time they aligned themselves with the global and domestic start-up, respectively. Sadiq’s earnings average about Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 a month. “The incentives keep changing so I am giving an average figure. I work from 11 am to 12 midnight,’’ said Sadiq. Swamyya, on the other hand, works from 6 am to 11 pm. “After clearing the loan amount and fuel, I get about Rs 40 to 45,000 a month,’’ he calculates. Both have a half smile as long as they discuss their earnings. Those expressions change when they are asked questions about the new rules and regulations - not more than eight hours of daily work - that the government is trying to implement. “We don’t know what is going to happen. Maybe we will have to go back to the old days,’’ said Sadiq. It is those days he dreads - when he was earning Rs 8,000 as a driver in a local company. Swamyya was earning Rs 11,000 as a valet chauffer at a hotel in south Bengaluru. “I don’t think if that 8-hour rule is implemented, I will be able to clear even the EMI on the car. If we don’t do the required number of trips, we don’t get incentives. Only if we work for a minimum of 12 hours can we earn so much,’’ said Sadiq. So, what will they do if you have to get the City permit for your car and give up the state permit, as mandated by the state government in its new rules? “I will simply give up the city permit. With the time restriction and city permit, I will not earn this kind of money. You are my 17th trip. I had two shared trips and they accounted for three trips each. A couple of more and I will earn an incentive of Rs 4,000 today,’’ said Swamyya. The number of working hours or insistence on a city permit for all Uber and Ola taxis are just two of the many mandatory aspects of the regulations that Karnataka has brought in two months ago. These go by the name of Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules, 2016. These regulations include the aggregators taking a licence from the government, aggregators ensuring police verification of drivers, installation of meters, display boards atop taxis, cab driver badges, insurance, and panic buttons, among others. In defense of these rules, an official of Karnataka’s transport department, who did not want to identified, pointed out the ghastly accident that shocked the city recently. The driver of one of the app-driven taxis had been working for 36 hours at a stretch. The race to earn monies had driven away his sleep and he had mowed down a well-known cyclist on the road to the international airport. “We asked for a panic button to be fitted into the taxis. If there is a rape, who is responsible?’’ asked Dr Rame Gowda, Karnataka’s transport commissioner, who is leading, possibly, a trend-setting battle on behalf of state governments with the technology-based taxi aggregators in the country. Barring Delhi, no other state has taken on the aggregators. The customers, too, have complaints against the most controversial of issues in relation to the aggregators — surge pricing. The government fixed Rs 19.50 per kilometer as maximum fare after rejecting the objections filed by the aggregators in favour of surge pricing. The state government banned surge pricing, but the aggregators persisted with it. Customers complained to the transport department which, in turn, came with a one-liner : Please file complaints with the police. The government asked the aggregators to get a licence. The aggregators ignored it until the transport department began impounding vehicles in hundreds. Catchment areas for the cab firms remain railway station, bus stations and taxis returning from the airport. Taxis would not drop passengers inside the bus stations or railway stations but only a distance away for fear of their vehicles getting impounded. The drivers protested and blocked the already congested traffic in Bengaluru. “Look at their attitude. They don’t want to follow rules,’’ said government officials, pointing an accusing finger at the aggregators. “This is licence raj,’’ complained a spokesperson of one of the aggregators on condition of anonymity. On one side was the state power that boosts arrogance. On the other, it was the arrogance of business and money power. In many ways, it was a classic battle between licence raj and free market economy being fought, ironically, on two counts. This, in the 25th year of India’s new economic reforms and in the country’s technology capital. “From the overall business perspective, billions of dollars are riding on these two taxi aggregators. This is foreign direct investment or FDI. Last year, the big story was Startup India. Now because of free market, Indian funds were pumped in last year,’’ said Anil Kumar, founder-CEO of the Bengaluru-based Redseer Consulting, a management and business research consultancy. “Now, a spanner in the works is thrown (by way of regulations). It leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the investor. These companies are now looking for the next round of funding. Regulation is such a big thing that it can paralyse business,’’ said Kumar. A lawyer who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “You can bring in regulation, but regulation cannot impede technology. A taxi is being forced to display digital meters and provide paper receipts. Why is it necessary when you have technology which sends a message to your phone as well as the driver’s phone on the fare.’’ “Whatever we did was in the interests of the people. We received many complaints from people on so many counts, including surge pricing,’’ said Rame Gowda. The situation was heading nowhere. The only place it could be settled was a court of law. Finally, the Karnataka High Court had to listen to three petitions on Wednesday. One by a prospective aggregator, a second from the drivers and cab owners and a third from Uber, the company which has the experience of fighting legal and other battles in other parts of the world as well. “All we can say is that the government has given an undertaking that it will not take coercive steps,’’ said a lawyer for Uber. “They have assured the court that they will not persist with surge pricing until the court decides,’’ said an official of the transport department. Their responses to what transpired in the High Court is indicative of the diverse approach each of them has to the problem. For the common taxi driver, like Sadiq and Swamyya, riding with a bank loan on their heads, losing the comfort of the last few months would, naturally, be marked by trepidation.