Cab drivers boycott Hyderabad airport trips over low aggregator fares

Cab drivers under the banner of the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers’ Union have launched a campaign boycotting trips facilitated by cab aggregator companies to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on the city’s outskirts, protesting against the “low fares” being charged. TGPWU founder-president Shaik Salauddin said on Tuesday that the campaign has been underway on a large scale since it was launched two days ago.

He alleged that aggregator companies charge as little as Rs 300-Rs 400 for a trip from the city to the airport while claiming a 30 per cent commission.

The state government issued an order in 2022 setting the fare for pre-paid cabs operating at the airport at Rs 21 per km, he said.

There is a difference of about Rs 300-Rs 400 between the fares charged by aggregators and pre-paid taxis, he claimed.

The low fares have significantly affected drivers’ earnings, he added.

Additionally, cab drivers often have to wait three to four hours at the airport for a return trip, he said. Despite “repeated appeals to the government and the transport department for uniform and fair pricing for aggregator services”, no decisive action has been taken, Salauddin claimed.

He urged the government to intervene immediately to regulate and standardise aggregator pricing policies.