Due to spread of corona virus(COVID-19) companies are encouraging employees to work from home. This has caused in the sudden dip in demands of cabs. This has affected ola as well as uber in India.

The biggest impact on cab services has come from the metropolitan cities as the demand was reduced by 40-60% in these cities. Overall the demand has been decreased by 10%.

An ET report cited driver associations and company insiders as saying that Uber and Ola rides have fallen by a third over the past week. The biggest impact has come in from metro cities, which are the high-volume markets for both companies.

Tanveer Pasha, president of OTU Drivers and Owners Association reportedly said that these sudden fall in demand is because many of the prominent companies have given their employees to work from home.

Another source reportedly said that since office and airport transfers are the most frequent use-cases for Ola and Uber, the travel ban from many companies and for international visits has directly impacted rides.

Around 5% of drivers attached to ride-hailing companies have left Bengaluru for their hometowns fearing they would be infected as the job puts them in close contact with hundreds of people. “The rest of us are on the roads and taking whatever little business we are getting,” Pasha said.

While Uber was late on the advisory related to coronavirus for its driver-partners in India, it is now planning to set up an emergency coronavirus fund for its drivers in the US. The fund will be available for driver-partners in India as well.