Call taxi drivers in Chennai to go on a two-day strike on October 16, 17

CHENNAI: Commuters of aggregator cab services in the city should brace for difficulties with 14 cab drivers' unions have announced a two-day strike starting Monday seeking the state government to regulate cab aggregators like Ola, Uber and Porter, launching its own app and ban bike taxis. The call taxi drivers strike might impact the availability of the cabs on the app-based services and fares will go up due to high demand.

In a statement, the Federation of All Taxi Drivers Union, comprising of CITU-affiliated Tamil Nadu Call Taxi Workers Union and Road Transport Workers Union, said that since most of the unions have extended support for the two-day strike on October 16 and 17, 80 per cent of call taxis would not ply in the city.

M Bhoopathy, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Call Taxi Workers Union, said that the cab aggregators are operating services without any regulation in place. "The union government released the motor vehicle aggregator guidelines in 2020 but it was not implemented in the state. The lack of rules impacts both the drivers and commuters. The regulation would help to fix a fair fare for commuters and better earning for drivers, " he said.

He also demanded that the transport department should act against the private vehicles being used for transport purposes. "We also demanding the government launch its app to provide aggregator services, banning bike taxis and fixing fares for call taxis, " he said.

After the two-day strike, all the unions would together hold a demonstration on October 18 at Egmore to highlight their demands.