Kottayam: If you are planning an online taxi trip in a Kerala city inspired by prime minister Narendra Modi's call for a cash-less community or after watching post-demonetization advertisements of popular app taxi services, then think twice or watch what Vidya Gopalakrishnan had to undergo when she tried to take the cab she hired online in Kochi.
Vidhya was in for a shocker when she got into the Uber cab she had booked online at the Ernakulam South railway station after alighting there at 7.15am on her way back from Bengaluru.
When she got into the cab, which was parked on the premises of the station, a group of auto-rickshaw drivers surrounded the cab and started threatening the driver and asked Vidya to hire a taxi or rickshaw from there.
"I didn't have liquid money on me. So, I told them (drivers) that I was going to pay using Paytm. They told me that they can make a stop at any ATMs in Kakkanad and I can get the money," Vidya, who is a fashion designer by profession and lives in Kochi, said.
A policeman, who was at the vicinity intervened, and advised Vidya to get out of the cab and hire a taxi from the stand in station. However, not willing to yield to pressure, Vidya contacted the police control room. "Things were no different even when police from control room arrived at the spot. Only one cop spoke for me. Rest of them wanted to know why I was adamant on the issue," Vidya said.
The last laugh, however, was Vidya's as she managed to travel in the same Uber cab. She recorded the entire incident and posted it on YouTube and it kicked off a debate.
"When we were going off, they threatened the driver not to come to railway station again to pick up people," Vidya added.
A tussle has been going on between the drivers of conventional taxis and those affiliated with the online cab aggregators ever since the app taxi services started in Kochi. The district CITU union leader was stabbed in front of Uber office in the city when he arrived to inaugurate a protest by the auto drivers. However, the man who stabbed the trade union leader had said that he committed the crime out of his dislike for CPM.
