Nigerian Drivers working on the taxi apps platforms of -Uber and Taxify, may go off line Tuesday, in protest of what they called “increasing inhuman conditions and poor working terms” of the two operators.
The drivers, whose representatives came to The Nation Newspapers to lay their grievances said both platforms have introduced draconian measures that amounts to exploitation on their part.
The representatives who refused to give their full names for fear of being delisted by the operators for championing the cause simply gave their first names; Emeka, and Segun.
While Emeka works for Taxify, Segun plies his driving trade on the Uber platform.
Both said the exploitative fare and commission regime recently introduced by the two platforms is affecting their operational margins.
They accused the two operators of unilaterally taking decisions regarding their operations such as fare rates and commission among others, without any input from the drivers whom are regarded as partners in the business.
According to Emeka, while Uber unilaterally dropped its fare rate across the country, it increased its commission on any trip from 15 percent to 25 percent. Taxify on the other hand while not increasing its commission from 18 percent, jerked up its fare rates thereby negatively affecting the level of patronage by passengers.
This, according to him, is compounded by poor treatment of drivers, whose services are usually summarily terminated by having them blocked from the main servers without any recourse to fair hearing.
“Sadly, both operators give very high preference to the riders than the drivers who operates on the platforms and many of us have had our services terminated just because a rider complained of poor service or as a result of poor rating.
“For these and sundry other reasons, we have decided that we as the critical link between these platforms and the riders should go offline for at least one day on Monday, to draw attention to our plight and see that these platforms address the drivers’ grievances,” Emeka added.
Also reiterating the plight of his colleagues, Segun said the drivers are demanding a reduction in the commission by both operators, saying that anything short of 15 percent remains unacceptable to the partners.
He said the operators should treat all operatora on the platforms as real partners and put an end to actions, policies and activities that dehumanises the drivers at the behest of the riders.
He said apart from high commission and poor welfare of their partner drivers, both operators
are also fond of setting a regime of unrealistic bonuses and deliberately short changes partners (drivers) who have his eyes on the goals by refusing to link them with prospective riders.
He said the operators are exploiting the “special relationship” that exists between them and all those operating their vehicles on their platforms, to perpetuate illegal activities, a reason why the partners too have resorted to push their cause through the media.
He said drivers and partners operating on both platforms are real partners and must be treated in line with best global practices applicable to those operating on those platforms across the world.
He therefore called on the federal government to take more than a passing interest in the operations of these two operators in Nigeria in order to put a stop to the growing exploitation of Nigerians by these operators.
He also urged the Lagos State government to strictly enforce the directive preventing local government operatives from illegal arrest of Uber and Taxify operators, who have been empowered under the state’s taxi reform regulation to park and pick riders on all streets and main roads in the state.
He said many local governments have constituted illegal revenue gangs who go about raiding and illegally extorting innocent drivers.
All attempts to get the responses of the two operators to these grievances as at press time proved abortive as calls to the customer lines of both Uber and Taxify went unanswered.
Emails also sent to uber@uber.com as well as to Taxify at lagos@taxify.eu were not responded to.