Mahindra and Mahindra which is now a major stakeholder of the Meru Mobility Tech PVT LTD an app-based ride-hailing service has announced the introduction of several measures to ensure the safety and well being of their driver-partners and passengers from the recent outbreak of the Corona Virus Disease.
Meru Mobility Tech is taking different steps to educate their driver-partners with various preventive measures such as using proper hygiene & sanitation techniques, minimising personal contact among drivers, social distancing among drivers, using alcohol-based sanitisers, wearing face masks and regularly changing them, encouraging cashless payments to minimize personal touch etc. These measures have been taken to help ensure passenger safety as well as to contain and prevent the virus spread.
Meru has also started sanitizing its cabs at designated city hubs and airports with ‘Ozone Treatment’ that kills bacteria and viruses inside the cabin. Ozone treatment comprises of releasing O3 (Ozone Gas) inside the cabin which can permeate through seat fabric and can get into far reaches of the vehicle’s cabin. Meru has carried out the Ozone Treatment on more than 1000 cabs pan India, so far.
Ozone or trioxygen is pale blue gas with a pungent odour found in the stratosphere in its natural state. It occurs naturally when sunlight splits Oxygen (O2) molecules into single atoms and the atoms combine with nearby oxygen molecules to form ozone (O3). Ozone can also be reproduced artificially using Ozone generators and the first Ozone generator was patented by Nikola Tesla back in the 1800s. Ozone can disrupt the integrity of the cell envelope through oxidation of phospholipids and lipoproteins. In viruses, O3 damages the viral capsid, upsets the reproductive cycle and can kill the virus by oxidising the outer protective portion layer which protects the viruses’ RNA, through a process called Lysis. Apart form viruses, Ozone is also effective in inactivating various Bacteria, Fungi, Yeast and Protozoa.
Apart from this, Meru has launched an initiative through which the brand is conducting distribution of face masks and hand sanitisers and distributing do’s and don’ts leaflets among driver-partners. Meru has also waived off their commissions and is providing incentives to their driver-partners as earnings have been seriously impacted since the outbreak of the COVID-19.
