Taxi, auto drivers bear the brunt of coronavirus fear

‘Business has dropped by 25%’

With the shutting down of schools, colleges and public places, the city’s autorickshaws and cab drivers experienced a major slack in business over the last few days.

“Since beaches have shut, public travelling to such places has reduced by almost 50%. Even the shutting down of malls, theatres and schools has affected us a lot,” Prakash Yadav, an autorickshaw driver from Vile Parle said. Autorickshaw drivers in Bandra had a similar story, with fewer people coming out of their homes. “Even over the weekend, not many people visited bandstand or Linking Road market out of fear of the virus,” Asraf Sheikh said. The drivers said their average wait time had increased from 15 to 20 minutes to an hour over the past week.

With several offices planning to ask their employees to work from home, drivers at key commercial districts like Lower Parel, Bandra Kurla Complex and Link Road in Andheri feel that their income would drop further. “Our daily earning has decreased by about 25% due to the fear instilled in the public,” Ganesh Tiwari, who drives a taxi in Lower Parel, said. Another driver, Rajendra Singh echoed his sentiment: “We will also have to shut down our business and sit at home if more people don’t turn up in the coming days.” Shabbier Sheikh, an autorickshaw driver in Bandra (East) said there had been a drop of around 30% in business.

Drivers on app-based cab aggregators have also reported a steep decline in business with many saying they have had to wait nearly 45 minutes before getting a customer. Jagjivan Gautam, who drives an Uber, said he and many other drivers had started wearing masks. “Since we frequently take airport pick-ups, there is a sense of mistrust among customers and hence I have been wearing a mask for the last week,” he said.

Both taxi and auto drivers were also anxious about the possibility of the suburban network shutting down, which would prove a death knell to their businesses. The city has nearly 45,000 black and yellow taxis, over two lakh auto rickshaws and an estimated 60,000 vehicles on platforms like Ola and Uber.