Cabbies drive into recession

Cabbies drive into recession

The tale of airport taxi drivers is of dwindling earnings and INCREASING HOPELESSNESS

Bhargavi Kerur & K Ramanujam. Bangalore

Hundreds of airport cab drivers had been suffering in silence ever since the new Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) opened in May 2008. They further sank into despondency as the global economy was dragged into a downturn and air traffic began waning.
The passenger traffic at BIA which was 35,000 in July 2008, came down to 22,000 by the year-end. The volcano of suffering burst forth after one driver, MR Prakash, of the Easy Cabs took his own life.
First the Easy Cab drivers went on strike on December 13. But the strike only aggravated their condition as the drivers started feeling the pinch of penury in the absence of their daily earnings.
The Easy cabbies returned to work after a while. But Meru cabbies picked up from where the Easy cabbies had left off on December 19.
The issue has now reached a flashpoint affecting air passengers moving to and from the airport. The passengers have been left high and dry with more than half of the cabbies staying off the roads. The cabbies too are struggling to make their ends meet with no daily earnings.
Lokesh, a Meru cab driver, is worried about paying school fees of his two children and maintaining a family of five. "My wife is a home-maker and I am the sole breadwinner of the family. I have three children and bringing them up is no minor task. I don't know how I will manage all these problems," he said.
During initial days, Lokesh paid the daily instalment and used to be left with Rs 500. After the global downturn and plummeting of the air traffic, this has come down to Rs 200, a half of the previous earnings.
"I cannot run a family with such meagre amount. I will have to take loan to run my family," he said.
The condition of Shivkumar C is no different. "I have no earnings for 15 days now. If the problem is not solved within the next 15 days how will I feed my family? I live in a rented house and have to pay school fees of my child," he lamented.
Shivkumar's earnings have also halved after the recession.
"I used to earn anywhere between Rs15,000 to Rs20,000. But for two months now, I am hardly earning Rs6,000 monthly. Bangalore being such an expensive city I have no idea how I will run my family," he said.
K Mahesh said: "The expenditure of running a Meru cab is very high. I have to work at least 20 hours at a stretch to make a living. I have no sleep and no rest and I won't be surprised if I meet with an accident at work.
In such a case, I will have to bear the cost of my treatment and repairing the vehicle. The management won't pay a paisa." Mahesh has a sister to be married off and old parents to look after.