Tensions between traditional tuk-tuks and ride-hailing apps

WITH the tourist season underway, the battle between the conventional tuk-tuk drivers and riders using ride-hailing platforms like Uber and PickMe has reached unprecedented and alarming heights with confrontations being featured in prime-time news bulletins as well as newspaper headlines.

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Due to the widespread ownership of smartphones in the island, the demand for mobile app-based hires has increased tremendously, which has adversely affected the livelihoods of traditional three-wheel drivers.Ride-hailing services have become extremely popular as they offer more transparency with upfront and predictable pricing apart from GPS tracking while providing greater safety for commuters and travellers. Importantly, their charges are much cheaper than the rates requested by conventional taxi drivers. Once passengers who use ride-hailing services end their trips, they are given the opportunity to rate the respective drivers in terms of a wide range of measures. Hence, riders consciously take precautions to drive their vehicles safely, knowing that recklessness could result in them receiving poor ratings from clients which could eventually lead to them being blacklisted from the ride-hailing app. Customers can also reach out to the customer service centres of the ride-hailing apps if they want to dispute the travelling fares in addition to making complaints against drivers whose behaviours