Drivers signed up with taxi aggregators are not looking forward to the enforcement of the new taxi aggregator rules by the Transport Department as they feel that they will eat into their earnings.
The rules, which were upheld partly by the Karnataka High Court, seek to streamline the business and bring companies under the control of the Transport Department.
Of particular interest to drivers is a cap on the number of hours in a day that they are allowed to drive which, according to the rules, is restricted to eight hours a day or 48 hours in a week.
“We do work for 10 hours and at times even 14 hours on some days in order to make the required number of trips, but no driver will willingly risk his life. Many of us cannot meet our target in eight hours as we get trips only in the morning and evening peak hours,” said Gajendra, a driver who has signed up with multiple aggregators.
With aggregators providing a driver login mechanism to begin taking rides, the enforcement of the the eight-hour rule would be a simple matter.
However, those who work for multiple operators can take advantage of the rules as they can simply continue driving for another company once their eight hours with the first operator ends.
“There is no way for us to track or monitor this yet,” said a source in the department. But drivers feel that the extra hours are necessary.
“We planned loans in such a way that we could pay them off in the shortest possible duration. But these rules will disrupt all our planning,” said Sagar, another driver.
