One year in Dhaka
Uber takes no question in press conference
STAFF REPORTER
Uber, the worlds largest on-demand ride sharing company, celebrated its first anniversary in Dhaka yesterday through a press conference where the company officials took no question from the journalists.
In a press conference, the company, which is yet to obtain official permission from the government to run its services in Bangladesh, highlighted its achievements in the country for the first year. Most of the journalists who were present in the press conference wanted to know about various issues related to its service in the city. But, Uber officials refused to answer and advised them to contact its PRO office in Dhaka.
When asked, AFM Asaduzzaman, an official at Benchmark Public Relations, said they couldnt arrange the question and answer session due to shortage of time and they also had no idea how to interact with journalists since it was their first press meet.
He asked the journalists to write to them regarding any issues, including scaling up of Ubers service or other problems, and they will answer them as far as possible.
San Francisco-headquartered Uber started its operation in 2009. The company started its Dhaka operation on 22 November 2016. However, the company has no cars of its own. Although currently there is no law in the country regarding the operation of app cab service, a law is currently being framed.
Uber had suffered a massive data breach last year that exposed the personal data of 57 million of its customers and drivers.
On the occasion of its completion of one year in Dhaka, Uber reiterated its commitment to give riders the freedom of mobility, create micro-entrepreneurship opportunities for its driver partners, and to a vision of decongesting Dhaka.
Amit Jain, the president of Uber India and South Asia, said that Dhaka is an important market for Uber because of population and shortage of public transport. The company has reduced the transport crisis by bringing a large number of private cars under the ride-sharing application, he claimed.
Pradeep Parameswarn, the head of central operations for India and South Asia, has said the number of cars is increasing in Dhaka. Although weve faced problems, we have successfully completed one year of our service in the city. The traffic congestion will reduce considerably if a proper policy is implemented for such app-based systems, he said.
Orpit Munda, general manager of Dhaka and Kolkata operation, said the National Helpline number 999 was added to protect the passengers and as a result the service has become more secured.
IK
