Monday’s strike by driver-partners of taxi aggregators Ola and Uber was waiting to happen due to the fast-changing economics involved.
“About a year ago, when we went to their offices (cab aggregators), we were told that we could earn as much as Rs 1 lakh (every month). In the initial period, our take home stood at Rs 60,000 to 70,000…However, due to changes in the incentive structure, we are now earning about Rs 40,000,” Chandrakant Patil, a driver-partner with one of the cab aggregators, said.
So, what has changed in a year that the driver partners had to resort to the strike. “It is the reduced incentive structure,” one of the driver-partners said. “If earlier, the firms offered Rs 1,200 incentive for every 10 trips completed in a day, it has now come down to Rs 800-1,200 for every 50 trips completed in four days,” he added.
According to the cab aggregators, the incentive pattern adopted earlier was never permanent. “Other benefits, such as in-trip insurance support and basic education assistance for the drivers’ children, have replaced the earlier structure,” Ola and Uber representatives said, refusing to share their incentive structure.
An Uber India spokesperson said incentives are dynamic. “As many as 80% of our driver-partners across India, who are online for more than six hours a day, make between Rs 1,500 to 2,500,” the spokesperson said.
Driver-partner Mohammed Sayyad said both the company and the driver-partners are at fault. “The company’s incentive structure was very aggressive and drivers got hooked,” he said, adding, “The strike means loss of money for us.”