With the first phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections in 91 constituencies across the country on Thursday, a large number of migrants in the city have left to cast their vote. These include drivers who have signed up on taxi aggregator platforms. Many of them who are from neighbouring States such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra have left the city to vote. Others have gone to their hometowns to campaign.
Radhakrishna S., a cab driver, said the availability of cabs would be a problem till the month-end as drivers from both within Karnataka and other States were likely to be back only then after a short break.
As a result, commuters who depend on taxis or autorickshaws are finding that the wait can be as long as 30 minutes, as against the normal of five minutes or less. This trend has been observed across all aggregator platforms. There have been cases of customers waiting even for an hour.
Spoorthy M.P., a software professional, said on Thursday she spent close to an hour trying to get a taxi but to no avail.
“I later decided to work from home as I did not get a taxi. I hope the situation will improve soon,” she said.
Commuters are making alternative arrangements to reach their workplaces. While some are taking public transport, others are car-pooling with their colleagues.
Sanjana S., who normally gets a cab within two to three minutes from her house at Nagarabhavi to her office on Sarjapur Road, said, “Over the past week, my waiting time has been between 10 and 20 minutes. So I have decided to hitch a ride with my colleague.”
Prefer outstation trips
Tanveer Pasha, president of the Karnataka Auto and Taxi Drivers and Owners Federation, acknowledged that many drivers were not logging on to Ola and Uber platforms on account of the elections. “While some of our drivers have gone to their hometowns to campaign or vote, others are accepting only outstation trips as they do not want to be in the city while the campaigning is on. This is because the police, political parties, and State government machinery force them to take up election duty, the payment for which is released months later,” he said.
Mr. Pasha said the availability of cabs and autos would drop as Karnataka goes to the polls on April 18 and 23.