Getting back to offices after two years of the comfort of work-from-home arrangements, Bengaluru residents across the city were hit by a shortage of Ola and Uber cabs. Commuters realised how deep the crisis was when the city experienced intense rains in the month of May and ride cancellations became the norm. “I have to commute to university every day and I can barely find any cabs around me, and when I do find them, they usually cancel at the last minute," says Saanya, a student residing in Banashankari.
This isn’t an isolated concern. While there has been an uptick in businesses like travel and hospitality, the ride-hailing cab drivers are finding it hard to come out of the combined impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, high fuel prices and inflation. The pandemic has affected the livelihood potential of the working class in Bengaluru, especially the lives of cab drivers, many of them who no longer have a car to drive.
According to Tanveer Pasha, President, Ola, and Uber Cab Drivers’ Association in Bengaluru, the pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the drivers, who have now left the city as the business closed down during the lockdown. “These drivers have not come back to the city and have opted to earn their living in their hometowns,” says Pasha.
Before the pandemic, the number of cabs available in Bengaluru was quite high, however post-Covid, the number has decreased. “When the lockdown was imposed and the earnings came to a standstill, a lot of drivers went back to their villages. For seven to eight months, over the two lockdowns, they had no earnings,” says Tanveer Pasha. He added that those who had bought new cars defaulted on EMI payments, so cars have either been seized or had to be surrendered.
According to Hamid Akbar Ali, an airport driver, In addition to drivers leaving the city because of the pandemic, a major problem is the shortage of cars itself. Over the course of the pandemic, several cars have been seized by financiers and the banks now refuse to provide them with loans, which could have allowed them to restart their businesses.
The plight of debt-ridden cab drivers and their hapless customers was revealed recently when an Ola app user posted a harrowing tale of his family forced out of a car by loan recovery agents during a trip to Mysuru from Bengaluru.
*WARNING. AVOID @Olacabs AT ALL COST*
— Vks (@VikHasya) May 15, 2022
Had one of the worst, traumatising experiences today. Had booked an outstation trip with @moon_natz and her parents to travel back to Mysore.
An hour and a half into the trip some rowdies come in their two wheelers and create a blockade..
“Companies and banks refuse to give us loans. During the pandemic, the banks gave us some time to repay our loans but it was not enough. They have now started seizing our cars on a large scale. If they gave us some more time, we could cut our losses and repay them. How are we supposed to repay them if they don’t give us time to recover our business from the pandemic?” asks Ali.
The drivers who had moved to Bengaluru for work mostly hail from districts like Mandya and Belgaum. Without cars, cab drivers are unable to make the money to pay back their financiers and repay the banks, “How are we to earn a living if all paths have been shut off?” asks Ali. According to him, the drivers had no option but to return to their hometowns. “They have a family to feed, what will they do with no car or money? They have no option but to go back,” he says.
Another cab driver in Bengaluru said the drivers who have left Bengaluru after the pandemic, seem to be better off. “Those who have left are satisfied with their decision to leave, the cost of living here is too high,” he said.
The cab shortage in Bengaluru can also be ascribed to a new policy of cab aggregators that allows drivers to view the destination before they accept the ride. In December 2021 ride-hailing major Ola said that its driver-partners will now be able to view their drop location and payment mode before accepting a ride, a move aimed at reducing cancellations. Uber also followed suit in May this year, enabling its drivers to view their drop location and make an informed choice. This was a step taken by the app due to rising fuel prices across the country.
This was initiated in response to rising consumer complaints and warnings issued to these cab aggregators by the government, urging them to improve their systems and redress customer grievances in terms of constant ride cancellation. However, this new policy coupled with migration brought upon by the pandemic may have been counterproductive as cab drivers now are cancelling their rides more than ever, leaving the residents of Bengaluru with limited options of transportation. The consumer complaints have surged and the plight of cab drivers and their livelihoods in the city only seems to deteriorate further.