autos taxis hope to revive biz as metro set to resumekochi as kochi metro resumes operations on monday the autorickshaw drivers and online taxi operators are hopeful that it will open up a path for them to come back to business the outbreak of the pandemic and the resultant lockdown have rendered many of them jobless even unlock procedures initiated by the government did not help public transport service providers win back commuters rajiv chandran an autorickshaw driver from the citys suburb said when people abandoned public transport services our business was hit very few people are willing to travel by bus or autorickshaws so i opened a grocery store in my village if kochi metro could bring back commuters then we might also get passengers i can leave the shop with my family and come back to the city to drive autorickshaw advt rasheed ali from idukki used to operate cab services under online platforms but as people stayed away from travelling he was forced to go back to idukki and try other businesses he says he has debts to clear the hope is if passengers take metro they will use cabs taxis and autorickshaws he says d dhanuraj chairperson of the city based thinktank centre for public policy research hints at the need to improve public transport facilities issues of traffic snarls and parking woes can be addressed by improving public transport facilities he said on several occasions police have also pointed out that haphazard parking led to traffic blocks in city however as fear lingers on the possibility of the increase in covid19 cases after onam celebrations the people are cautious about being in public spaces and using public transport systems social distancing is the norm not all will be willing to travel by bus trains and taxi cars said rajalakshmi j a retired professor it is about staying safe i used to depend on online taxi services even if it requires me to drive through the heavy traffic i do not want to take the risk of getting infected by depending on a cab or autorickshaw she said tnn published on sep 7 2020 at 0351 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etauto app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app kochi public transport service providers cab services taxis hope to revive business as metro set to resume autos centre for public policy research auto rickshaw pandemic social distance homenewsindustrykochi autos taxis hope to revive biz as metro set to resume