Ahmedabad: Approximately 1,500 members of the Ahmedabad Taxi Drivers’ Union (ATDU), associated with app-based cab aggregators, ended their week-long strike on Monday night, stating that the companies have agreed to their demands.

The president of ATDU, Vanraj Gadhvi, stated that the cab aggregators had proposed a per-kilometre charge of Rs 10-15, but hefty commissions, daily platform fees, and taxes were imposed, leaving the drivers with minimal earnings. After the five-day strike, the company representatives have verbally agreed to meet our demands and increase fares.

The taxi drivers have requested the companies to set the base fare according to government guidelines of Rs 20-25 per kilometre for both AC and non-AC cabs.

It is learnt that the taxi aggregator running the Rapido app has accepted the demand and agreed to the new fare of ₹20 per kilometre, while Ola has agreed to raise its fare to ₹17 per kilometre from the previous ₹15 per kilometre. However, another aggregator, Uber, has not accepted these demands, and drivers associated with Uber are likely to remain on strike.

With the Ola and Rapido drivers calling off the strike, passengers will breathe a sigh of relief as commuting will become available to them. However, with the fare hike, the burden of increased costs will ultimately fall on passengers, when the revised charges will be implemented.

During the strike that began on July 24, many people struggled to find convenient point-to-point transportation. A lot of people were left stranded in the rain or arriving at the airport and facing long queues for pre-paid taxis. DeshGujarat