Commuters stranded

Commuters stranded

Express FeaturesFirst Published : 14 Apr 2010 02:17:00 AM IST
BANGALORE: Ananya Ghosh spent nearly two hours making several calls trying in vain to book a Meru cab from Frazer Town to Marathahalli for her office. The only answer she got from the call centre was that there was a shortage of drivers.
Saurav, a resident of Jayanagar, met a similar fate. He had to attend the meeting at noon at his Whitefield office and tried his best to book a cab only to be told by the call centre that the drivers had not logged in since morning. “I tried for more than two hours to book a cab from Jayanagar to the Whitefield office but was told by the call centre staff that I can only book cabs after 9 pm,” said Sourav.
This shortage of cabs particularly hit those who were to travel to and from the airport.
Express was also told by the Meru cab call centre that fresh bookings had not been made on Tuesday because of non-availability of drivers. Bookings made in advance were also cancelled through messages sent on Tuesday morning.
A Meru cab driver said that some of his colleagues had gone to attend the opening ceremony of a new Meru Cab Airport Taxi Drivers Association branch at Nagawara that has been set up by the management in association with Jai Karnataka. “Hence, some of the services were suspended because of the non-availability of drivers,” he said.
Speaking to Express, KN Umesh, the president of the Bangalore District Taxi Driver’s Union, corroborated this.
“Around 80 drivers (out of about 800) were believed to have taken part in the function,” he said.
However, Bianca Pereira, the PRO of Meru Cabs Ltd, denied that there was any suspension of service on Tuesday.