Cab services resume but find few takers in Ludhiana

Though cab services finally resumed in the district following the lifting of curfew by the state government, the fear of catching an infection inside the vehicle kept most passengers away. While cabs plying within the city managed to find a few takers, there was almost zero demand for inter-district travel.

Punjab taxi union president Jaideep Singh said the taxi business has been hit badly as residents are keen on hiring the cab services due to fear of infection. “Earlier, passengers would hire taxis to take them to the Golden Temple in Amritisar, Chandigarh airport or Delhi. But now with residents restricting their movement, we are hardly getting any passengers. Further, as the government has started bus services at cheaper rates for migrants, there are no takers for cabs.”

Inter-state taxi drivers say that usually in summers, they made handsome profits as residents would take a trip to the hills to beat the heat. But this time, they aren’t expecting much business.

Amanjot Singh, who works with a private cab aggregator, said, “Cab services resumed on May 18 and I waited for two days, but no passengers came forward. Earlier, I used to get at least 8-10 bookings a day.”

“We used to get most of our business from students or young professions who came to the city from outside. But now that most students have left for their homes and professions are working from home, there are no takers for cabs,” says Singh, adding, “On our part, we have taken adequate precautions like keeping hand sanitisers inside our vehicles but the response is very low.”

Meanwhile residents, who used to travel in local cabs, are now preferring their own vehicles. Ravi Arora, a resident of BRS Nagar, said, “Due to shortage of parking space near my shop in Mochpura Bazar, I used to take a cab to work but now I go in my own car as I don’t want to take any risk.”