Uber, Ola Drivers Devastated By Coronavirus; Demands Loan, EMI Relief As Rides Down By 30-50% In India

The coronavirus pandemic fears have given rise to large downfalls in every sector of employment. Not only has it affected the major sectors of economy like tech and trade but also has shown its footfall in the whole economy.

Just yesterday, we informed you of the decision to lower the interest rates by the Federal Reserve, in extension to coping up with a series of emergency measures Sunday night.

Not just the world economy, the Sensex indexes have been hitting the all time low too on Dalal Street due to the fear-inducing Covid-19 pandemic

Today we will be bringing out to you the current phase of the taxi drivers’ situation. It has been reported that the Ola Uber drivers, along with the ‘kaali-peeli’ taxi drivers in Mumbai have been strongly hit in business by this coronavirus fears.

Ola Uber Drivers’ Business Reach a New Low

We have been fervently covering the topics related to how Covid-19 is affecting the working situation all around the country.  Ola and Uber are being badly hit by the Covid-19 fears, directly affecting their businesses, making it difficult for many to pay back loan EMIs.

As a result, some drivers decided to petition banks to waive interest rates for two months on loan EMIs. A driver tweeted that fear has kept people locked in and most are avoiding using public transport.

In such a situation, it is being almost impossible for these drivers to pay back their monthly bank EMI. Thus, they have asked banks to waive their EMIs for a month or two because of this ‘apatkaleen’ situation.

Another driver said city driver partners were disappointed waiting for customers, especially at airports, where passenger traffic had dipped lately. These drivers, who are partners with Ola or Uber, are witnessing a drop in passengers by more than 20% daily across the city.

Drivers are Maintaining Proper Sanitisation Throughout

As per one such driver, the waiting time for passengers has dramatically gone up. They believe that amidst all these fears, people are being highly reluctant to take public transport, specially AC cabs, which are being used by several commuters throughout the day.

Some cab driver partners are reluctant to pick up passengers from T2 international airport and they are looking for business elsewhere.

Ola and Uber said they were trying to dispel fears by conducting sensitisation programmes and creating awareness on preventive measures. 

According to an official from an aggregator firm, the walk-in centres across cities have been equipped with a steady supply of health advisory material, sanitisers and masks, which can be picked up and used by driver-partners to ensure highest levels of cleanliness for themselves and their vehicles. This will help create a safer and cleaner ride experience for customers as well.