Shahariar Islam Sovon :
City dwellers have been facing extreme insecurity and unfair practices to find riders as most of syndicate are not interested to share trip according to the rules of mobile app-based ride sharing services ‘Uber’ and ‘Pathao’.
Mobile app-based ride sharing services ‘Uber’ and ‘Pathao’ started operations in the country in 2016.
Since then, this app-based ride sharing has become popular to reach the destination quickly and easily by avoiding traffic jams.
However, recently, there have been allegations of harassment against drivers, including increased fares, reluctance to use apps and misbehaviour with passengers.
Various areas of the capital including Gulistan, Farmgate, Shahbagh, Shukrabad, Kalabagan, Panthapath, Banani and Khilkhet, drivers with motorcycles are waiting for passengers at every intersection.
When asked to know the reason behind going to the agreement, several drivers told The New Nation that if we go through the apps, what is left after deducting the money.
‘The price of oil increased and it is extremely hard to follow the apps rules’ he said.
So they are forced to leave apps and transport passengers on contractual fares. Many also move to contract to save time. Don’t want to waste time by calling the app.
Fahim Ahmed, CEO and Managing Director of Pathao told The New Nation, “Pathao always determines the fare within the guidelines set by the government, considering both the rider and the passenger.
But some unscrupulous riders offer offline trips at certain times of the day to collect extra fare.
Majority passengers take the offline service due to lack of awareness.
However, we think that passengers have a big role to play in this regard.
If they are interested in app-based ride sharing, riders have no option to opt out of the contract.
So we are working to make users aware of this.
Talking to several passengers like Mamun told The New Nation, it was known that riders have a syndicate, and they compel us to pay a premium rate to reach our goal.
Additionally, they disregard the terms of the apps, which costs extra money.
Considering all these, the authority concerned should come forward to find out the ‘Uber’ and ‘Pathao’ syndicate and treat it with iron hand and used to hiring ‘Uber’ and ‘Pathao’ services for the greater interest of the nation.
