- Thursday, February 27, 2025
Bengaluru is one of the top markets for taxi aggregators in India.
By: Shubham Ghosh
SEVERAL taxis from Uber and Ola call services remained off the roads in Bengaluru, India’s information technology (IT) hub on Monday (11) due to a transport strike, affecting commuters, including schoolchildren.
The strike was called to protest against a scheme by the newly elected government of the southern state of Karnataka, of which Bengaluru is the capital, allowing free transport of women non-premium government buses. Private transporters complained that it had affected their livelihood.
The Indian National Congress, which is in the opposition against prime minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi, came to power in Karnataka in May, defeating the same opponent.
Spokesperson of both Uber and Ola sought more time to assess the impact of the strike and throw light on the exact number of rented passenger vehicles that stayed off the roads, Reuters reported.
Bengaluru is one of the top markets for taxi aggregators in India.
While some companies in the city asked their employees to work from home for the day, others urged workers to arrange alternative means of transport. Some schools also suspended their classes for the day.
“Our employee cab services also will be disrupted during this strike and cabs will not be available for our regular pick and drop service. Request all cab/company transport users to make their own arrangement to reach office on 11th September 2023,” Nokia said in an internal memo seen by Reuters.
“I was looking for cabs and autos for almost two hours, starting from 8 am. There was no auto (tri-wheel passenger vehicles) available and nobody was accepting it either, not even Rapido (a motorcycle app),” Eldho Basil John, who works with software firm Neutrinos, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“I had to take my flatmate’s bike and get to office”.
The public Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation added 4,000 additional bus routes in an attempt to aid stranded passengers, it said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
