After a long weekend, the first working day of the implementation of the odd-even policy which started on April 15, took roughly half of Delhi’s cars off the roads. As a result, it gave a boost to the city’s cab operators, with Uber and Ola reporting a surge in the number of cabs operational as compared to other days.

The cab operators showed surging prices on their apps, with Uber asking for four-times the regular price at 9 am in the morning and Ola showing less number of available cabs.

Uber Technologies, which started a carpooling initiative in December last year expected carpooling to help the company deal with increased customer demand, which it had anticipated during the 15-days of odd-even scheme. Hence last week it had also slashed the prices for its carpooling service by 50 percent to Rs 3.5 per kilometre from Rs 7 per kilometre earlier. But this would hardly make a difference if prices shoot up during peak office hours in the remaining days of the odd-even scheme that ends on April 30.

On Saturday, a section of the auto and taxi unions in the national capital threatened to go off the roads today to protest against illegal operations of app-based cab services. The strike called by the Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh and Delhi Pradesh Taxi Unions accused these private cab services of snatching their livelihood.

The strike call led the Delhi government to reportedly promise these unions strict action by them to prevent “arbitrariness” by app-based taxi operators, causing hardship to commuters. And that Ola and Uber will have to follow rules. If complaints against arbitrariness of any app-based taxi service are received, the government will impound their vehicles.

Commuters can register complaints against arbitrariness or exorbitant fares of private app-based cabs at 011-42400400.