Calcutta: A tendency among app cab drivers to help each other complete their "weekly quota" has raised safety and security concerns for passengers.

Desperate to meet the trip limit to qualify for weekly incentives, drivers have tied up with colleagues with similar looks on the same platform to pitch in for one another.

The Uber target is 120 trips in a week and the incentive is Rs 5,000.

App cab operators say they don't want drivers to rush to meet the quota count.

"The target always hangs heavy. It's either 40 trips in three days or 120 a week. The number of rides keep varying," an Uber driver said.

"If you are short by one trip, you won't get the incentive. On weekdays, there are long hours of wait. In winters, it's even more difficult to meet the target because bookings are relatively low."

Long hours of wait means long stretches on the road; at times in the night to make up for the time lost, according to many drivers.

Early on February 18, a speeding Ola driver rammed into a culvert near the Metropolitan bus stop on the Bypass, leaving a 22-year-old IIEST student dead.

The driver, Sujoy Gharami, said he had dozed off. "It was only for a fraction of a second. By the time I realised it, the culvert was right in front of me. I didn't even get time to brake," he said.

Ola claimed it had issued directives to its driver-partners on safe driving.

"We have already asked our partners to sleep adequately before driving. Or else they can remain logged out of the system," an Ola official said.

Knowing the risk of driving when one is tired, many drivers are taking the help of colleagues to complete the weekly trip quota.

Meeting a target of 120 trips a week means close to 18 trips a day, a driver said.

"Those whose faces are almost similar have joined hands to form a group. One them hands over his vehicle and takes rest. Trips get recorded in his name but the driver is someone else," an Uber driver said.

"The group comes handy... we often call up each other to get traffic updates and work out alternative routes accordingly."

Many drivers said there was no point to remain on Uber or Ola platforms without the incentives. Most operators take about 20 per cent of the weekly earnings of a " driver partner".

Uber refused to comment on the matter.

The concept of swapping drivers has left police on the edge. The practice amounts to impersonation, which is a criminal offence under the IPC, an officer said.

Also, it poses a challenge in case of crimes committed inside cars, an officer of the detective department said. "If the accused driver is not the one who is meant to drive the vehicle, it would mean a criminal conspiracy is in place," the officer said.