Uber And Ola Curtail Back In Lines With Coronavirus Outbreak

Surely, there was never going to be a sense of surprise that the businesses were anyways going to suffer in lines with the Coronavirus outbreak. Somethings, it could be said, are but understood. For instance, what happens when you consume ice-cream despite having got drenched in peak rainfall? The lesser said the better- right. Want another example? What happens when you throw a matchstick over spilled petrol or diesel? Fumes are just a by-product of the carnage that happens, isn’t it?

So what happens when a massive outbreak of virus takes place in the world around us? What one can understand is that there’s going to be a period marked with harsh difficulty in both personal and professional spheres of human endeavor. And that goes without saying.

But what’s important to understand is just how long will we continue to suffer. Or to put it in other words, how long will this onerous period continue to stifle our existence? Businesses aren’t running in a way. Public services, provided by the government for the welfare of the masses have been nearly brought to a state of standstill.

Hospitals, any which ways haven’t really been fed with necessary medical infrastructure. The situation, back in India, is worse than ever. As it is, in medical terminology, the patient to bed ratio, isn’t the greatest strength of the world’s largest democracy.

And now, as if there wasn’t already too much to deal with, the country’s woes are going to only worsen or so it appears.

So what exactly has happened?

Apparently, even Uber and Ola have taken a hit. Again, not too hard to understand why’s that? With India currently bundled in a state of lockdown, what’s the worse that could happen? People aren’t anyways going to go out of their homes.

Who is going to make use of the cab-hailing or ride-sharing services when there’s hardly any significant mass movement among the locals?

So while surely the common scenario in much of Urban India is about Uber and Ola offering time-bound and round-the-clock services to passengers, the simple question is- where are the passengers?

Who are the passengers who could be ferried from a place to the other anyway?

In these difficult times, not all businesses are going to flourish. And in that regard, Uber and Ola are struggling.

Who will book a cab in this current state of country-wide lockdown?

Surely, it goes without saying that none had expected 2020 to manifest itself the way it has, thus far. No soothsayer would have even thought of situations to become this worse as what one sees at present. What do you think?

Although, India thankfully is on the brighter side of things, since the death toll is anything but threatening. Yet, these are testing times as much of the world around us is currently bunked in a quiet place called the ‘home!’

That said, here’s what major site Tech Crunch reported on the state of affairs of Uber and Ola- two of the most prominent and popular cab services in the country:

In compliance with the government guidelines, we are temporarily suspending all Uber services in your city. This means that Uber rides services will not be available until further notice,” Uber told customers in New Delhi.

A spokesperson for Uber, which suspended shared ride options across in India on Saturday, confirmed the move.

Ola, which rivals Uber in India, said it was additionally also restricting ride options across the country but would offer a “minimal network of vehicles to support essential services.

In that regard, what doesn’t help is that the complete suspension of all public transport services has only restricted us to the four-walled existence so to speak. But whether things get better post the end of this month is but a waiting game.