Taxi, rickshaw drivers protest against ride-hailing services in Lahore

–Protesters call them a ‘conspiracy’ against local businesses

LAHORE: Lahore Taxi Drivers Association on Saturday staged a rally against ride-hailing services, Uber and Careem. The protesters demanded the government to put a ban on these services.

About 30-40 taxi drivers, participating in the protest, claimed that their income has been reduced to half after the introduction of these private taxi service providers.

“If the government cannot put an end to the services of Uber and Careem, then it can at least reduce the number of vehicles in the fleets of these services, they said.

They said the licensed taxi drivers have to pay different kinds of taxes while app-based services have no such taxation imposed on them. The taxi owners also accused the ride-hailing services of stealing their jobs.

They urged the Lahore Transport Authority (LTA) to immediately ban Uber and Careem and warned that protests will continue until their demands are met.

It is pertinent to mention here that similar protests have been held in Islamabad and Rawalpindi by taxi and rickshaw drivers. They alleged that online cab companies have affected their livelihood to a large extent.

Meanwhile, rickshaw drivers have launched a poster drive against Uber and Careem. The posters put up on these rickshaws described Uber and Careem a ‘conspiracy’ against local businesses in Pakistan.

Furthermore, the disgruntled protesters alleged that app-based cab services are being used for legalising black money and for money laundering.

It is pertinent to mention here that Punjab and Sindh transport authorities had declared private cab companies illegal earlier this year and banned them from operating.

The Punjab Transport Authority in its notification had also stated that the utilisation of private cars by Uber and Careem for commercial purposes is a violation of the city’s local laws.

The Punjab government also stated that non-compliance of these ride-hailing services had cost “great loss to the government.” However, services of Uber and Careem were restored following the orders of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Dubai-based Careem directly made inroads into markets in Karachi, Lahore and later Islamabad in October 2015, while San Francisco-based Uber began operations in Lahore in 2016. Both companies are now operating in many cities of Pakistan.