Mangaluru: Auto drivers protested against the decision by the Railways to allow Uber to operate from Mangalore Central. Since Saturday, they have not lined up outside the prepaid auto stand, causing a lot of difficulty for passengers. The decision to allow the app based taxi service to pick up and drop off passengers was taken by the Southern Railways Palghat Division and the Railway Ministry. This taxi service has been running in other metros like Coimbatore, Bangalore and Chennai so it was decide to roll out the facility in Mangalore as well.
According to officials, the railways receives many complaints about auto drivers, that they are over-charging for short distances or if the auto in front of the line charges one fare, then all the auto drivers charge the same fare, thus making it difficult for travellers.
The auto drivers on their part are very angry about the move. They say that if they stand in the pre-paid auto line, they have to charge the customer only what is written on the pre-paid slip. They said that the taxi and auto drivers are asking for is for Uber to operate just outside the railway station but not near the entrance of Mangalore Central, which is their domain.
