Various drivers InDrive In Barranquilla they proposed to the district authorities to seek an agreement so that they can continue earning a living through the use of the application because it is the only way to support their families, while they complained because according to them, the sanctions against them have increased in the last weeks.
Pedro Mojica, leader of the community, said during a visit to Zero zone which are imposing fines of up to 20 current legal minimum wages for those who transport passengers using this platform.
“We are not a company and we do not have the money to pay these fines. We want them to see us as the people we are, who go out to work in search of daily bread. Currently there are more than 25 thousand drivers working on the platforms in Barranquilla”he assured.
Read also: “We unite as a country or we sink”: Former Minister Mauricio Cárdenas.
He also specified that in the city they have implemented an exclusive squad to search for InDrive drivers and that some police officers intimidate passengers so that they say that the drivers are giving them a run and issue fines.
“They don’t have to intimidate the passenger in that way. Sometimes they even tell them that the driver is a supposed criminal so that they say that we are making a career out of them and that’s not how it should be. We feel persecuted”, she said, while calling on the authorities to sit down and discuss.
“We are willing to stop working on platforms if they offer us another way of working, but the truth is there is no other alternative and we have to drive”he detailed.
For its part, Orlando Sarmientoanother driver of the platform, assured that “Of the 25 thousand platform drivers, 11 thousand are taxi drivers and 5 thousand of these have regulated the card. We move around 450 thousand people in the city, which corresponds to 20 runs for each vehicle. Some of the drivers have taken out their vehicle on credit and not generating income becomes another social problem. The fight is not with our taxi driver friends, we just want them to let us work to support our families.”
To its turn, Daniel Felipe Childanother driver, said that “We are not illegal, we want to hold working meetings and reach an agreement with the authorities. I am a company administrator and in 2019 there were staff cuts in the company where I worked and I did not have to choose to drive because there was no other option.”
He also pointed out that there are problems in sectors such as Alameda del Río, taking into account that due to the lack of parking, they are forced to park on the road, which is why several of their colleagues have already had their vehicles immobilized.
They also said that in their group there are elderly people, women, people over 55 years old who are no longer hired by companies and choose to seek their livelihood by driving with the applications.
InDrive drivers finally said that if they are not listened to by local authorities, they will be forced to hold a sit-in at various points in the city on July 16 to attract attention.
