News of Careem and Uber being banned in Sindh dominated the news yesterday evening.
People in the province were in a frenzy trying to figure how they would commute. And a lot of people took to social media to be outraged.
just so we're clear: if they ban careem, we riot.
— capitalist hero™ (@merabichrayaar) October 23, 2018
Why is Sindh govt planing to ban Careem service? I think it’s completely wrong with the people specially women who have limited resources to travel for education/work etc by themselves. A far as I know, Careem has always been a source of income for those who never had the 1/3
— Husna Aftab (@husnaaftab) October 22, 2018
Government is banning Careem/Uber? Without any proper public transportation in place, why such a drastic step?
Look at how many jobs will be affected. Plus how are the majority of us who don't drive supposed to get to work? Ridiculous.
— Shamilah (@ShamilahR) October 22, 2018
Careem and Uber have amassed a lot of users over the last three years. People rely on their services day in and day out for their transportation needs and if the services were to be banned, a lot of people would be put in a very uncomfortable position of trying to figure out alternate ways to go places.
Government is banning Careem/Uber? Without any proper public transportation in place, why such a drastic step?
Look at how many jobs will be affected. Plus how are the majority of us who don't drive supposed to get to work? Ridiculous.
— Shamilah (@ShamilahR) October 22, 2018
While the Sindh government has not issued another statement on the matter, Careem has
They have said their services are operational all throughout the country and they are working closely with the governments of all provinces to finalize all frameworks.
— Careem Pakistan (@CareemPAK) October 23, 2018
The entire reason for the Sindh government’s crackdown on ride-hailing apps is because of an unfortunate incident which took place because of one of these applications. A woman using a ride-hailing app’s services apparently jumped out of a car on main Shahrah-e-Faisal because she was being harassed by the driver.
A lot of people automatically assumed, because of TV coverage around it, that the incident took place on an Uber but the company had something else to say
In light of recent reports, we have looked into the alleged incident and it appears that it did not happen on Uber. Uber is committed to the safety of our riders and drivers, along with reliability and convenience. We stand ready to assist law enforcement any way we can.
— Uber Pakistan (@Uber_PKR) October 21, 2018
Incidents such as these, are becoming more common by the day with no solution in sight. While the companies always say they are looking into the matter, seldom do we ever hear about what exactly happened and whether the victims of these incidents were happy with how the company approached and solved the matter.
But apparently, the frameworks the companies are currently working on with the government will tackle this very problem; the safety of those using these apps.
We spoke with a representative at Careem, and they told us that it was not a ban but a seven-day notice to the companies to make changes and work with the government to ensure Careem services are not halted anywhere. Uber was also contacted but they did not give an official statement till the time of publication.
Oh Bhains, Cancel Your Rides, Sindh Has Decided To Ban All Uber And Careem Services
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Cover Image Source: saudigazette.com