Ridesharing drivers worried over fuel price hike

Md Badsha, 30, would work at a power company on a contract basis. He became jobless after the expiration of his two-year contract. Badsha would frantically search for a job to run the family, to no avail. None could manage him a job. Despondent Badsha, after searching job for around one year, bought a motorbike and started ride-sharing.

Hailing from Faridpur, Badsha lives in the capital’s Kamarpara area, with his wife and twin babies. Badsha could barely meet the ends with the earnings from ride-sharing. He had to take loans regularly to pay the house rent and meet other expenses. The sudden rise of the fuel oil price by Tk 46 per litre has rubbed salt in his injuries. He cannot calculate how to adjust to such a huge rise in cost.

Another person named Md Kamal started ridesharing after losing his job in times of coronavirus. Kamal has a six-member family comprising of parents, wife and children. Kamal, unable to bear his living expenses with the earnings from ridesharing, has sent his wife to a garments factory job. The income of both helped them somehow manage the family expenses. The whopping rise in fuel oil price is going to hit Kamal hard. He is worried about how to bear the cost of living now.

Thousands of bikers, especially those who eke out a living by ridesharing, are on a tightrope due to the sudden hike in fuel price.

As the bikers have no alternative to increasing the fare, many passengers would forgo riding bikes. The number of passengers renting ridesharing bikes has already dwindled.

Badsha and Kamal, alongside over a hundred bikers, were waiting for passengers at the Abdullahpur area in the city on Sunday morning.

“I couldn’t bounce back from the blow I had after losing the job at the power company. The danger is coming in threes."

He said he struggled to manage his food during the corona.

"Just when I was getting back to somewhat normal life after ridesharing, the fuel oil price rise has left me in the precarious state again, I can’t figure out how to how would I manage this deficit.”

Badsha said the distance he would cover with oil worth Tk 100 would not possible now with oil worth Tk 150.

Badsha said passengers also don’t want to ride if they demand an extra fare.

Kamal joined the discussion saying, “Suppose we could ride the whole day with oil worth Tk 300-350. After bearing other expenses, we could save Tk 1,000 on average. But we will have to spend around Tk 700 on fuel alone now. There are other expenses too. How would we survive? The passengers get angry if we charge an extra fare.”

Another biker name Ariful Islam said, “The passengers don’t even get near us if we demand extra fare due to oil price hike. Our income drops if we don’t get trips. How would we bear the family expenses if income decreases? People would have no alternative to involve in stealing-mugging if this situation continues.”