Thanks to the rising fuel prices, the aggregator cab drivers are switching off air conditioning in cabs despite the prickling heat that Mumbai is facing. In fact, there are complaints coming in from other cities that drivers are demanding extra money for switching on the AC. The drivers and their associations here in Mumbai claim that by switching off the AC, they would earn a mileage of 2-3 km per litre.
According to one of the complaints made on micro-blogging site Twitter on March 25, it mentioned that the driver refused to turn on AC unless the passenger pays extra for air conditioning.
This particular incident did not take place in Mumbai, however, the drivers and associations claim that there is every possibility that it could happen here as well.
As of March 27, in Mumbai, petrol prices saw a hike of 53 paise per litre while diesel price was hiked by 58 paise a litre. With this increase, in Mumbai, petrol cost jumped to Rs 113.88 per litre from Rs 113.35 and diesel went up to Rs 98.13 per litre from Rs 97.55.
“The fuel cost is seeing a consistent increase which is making things difficult for cab drivers. The cab operators cannot do anything about increasing the base fare which is still around Rs 6-7. There is no doubt, such instances might happen even in Mumbai,” said an aggregator cab owner and driver and member of Maharashtra Rajya Rashtriya Kamgar Sangh and union leader for aggregator cabs drivers' union.
The drivers claim that simply switching off the AC will improve their cabs mileage by 2-4 km per litre. With the rising fuel prices, including that of gas, the drivers are worried about the earnings. Meanwhile, the aggregators claim that they do not back such behaviour from drivers.
"Uber does not levy extra charges for switching on the AC during a ride and any driver who is charging such fee will face action from the company for violating our community guidelines. Uber expects drivers on its platform to keep the car AC switched on during a ride. In case of the driver’s refusal, riders have the option to reach Uber via in-app chat messages and post-trip feedback. Continued non-compliance by drivers may lead to them losing access to the Uber app," said an Uber spokesperson.
It is well known that India is mainly dependent on crude oil imports for petrol and diesel. Hence crude prices affect petrol and diesel rates. However, other factors such as rising demand, government taxes, rupee-dollar depreciation and refinery concept ratio will also have an impact on domestic fuel prices.
