Kochi: Online taxi fares may be hiked
Demanding fare hike, reduction in commission rates, and several other needs, a joint strike was held by the unions for several days.
KOCHI: The online taxi fares in the district is likely to be hiked soon as transportation network companies UBER and OLA have agreed to submit a proposal on the increased fare at a meeting held in the presence of Labour Comm-issioner here on Friday.
Based on the demands raised by the online drivers’ unions at the meeting, labour commissioner Sajan C.V. has directed the companies to submit a proposal on the increased fare structure before the Regional Joint Labour Commissioner before Monday.
Kerala Online Drivers’ Union (KODU) president Jackson Varghese said that the taxis will run as per the revised fare for one month as trial run to see if the proposal is acceptable to both the parties.
“The fare charge will be fixed after the one month trial run,” he said. However, the commission rates will not be reduced from 25 percent to 10 percent as demanded by the unions. Instead, the labour commissioner has asked the companies to compromise on fare.
In a meeting held in December, the companies had directed to submit a proposal about the revised fare structure in accordance with the living cost, but it was not done. A slight increase in wage and incentives for the drivers had been earlier agreed by the companies as a temporary relief.
Demanding fare hike, reduction in commission rates, and several other needs, a joint strike was held by the unions for several days.