CHENNAI: A day ahead of the proposed strike against cab aggregators Uber and Ola for charging hefty commissions, a section of auto and cab drivers joined their rival Namma Yatri.
At an event in the city, the office-bearers of various drivers associations took a pledge of “Aram Seiya Virumbhu” with “Namma Mission, Customer Satisfaction” and also signed an agreement with Namma Yatri to uphold professionalism, reliability, and fair pricing, ensuring that passengers aren’t overcharged.
The auto and cab drivers migrated to Namma Yatri from Uber and Ola alleging that the latter companies were collecting commissions upto 25 per cent on every ride. In contrast, Namma Yatri collects a subscription charge per day.
Namma Yatri co-founder S Magizhan Selvan said the drivers would get 100 per cent of their earnings while passengers too would benefit from fair and transparent fares. Meanwhile, the Federation of Drivers’ Union has announced that they would ply their auto rickshaws with revised fares from February 1 with Rs 50 for 1.8 km as the minimum charge and Rs 18 for subsequent km and Rs 1.5 per minute as waiting charge.
Jahir Hussain of Urimai Kural said that the transport department has invited their union for talks over the auto-rickshaw fares.