Uber and Ola are ensuring that their drivers won’t take you for a ‘ride’ again!

Stock Market2 min read

The app based taxi services have been on a sticky wicket for quite some time. Uber’s and Ola’s drivers have often been accused of misbehaving with customers, and that is not their only vice that has been costing both cab operators in serious cash. Drivers of both companies have been for sometime now cheating the cab companies by manipulating the billing system to their own advantage. Sources have confirmed that on an average Uber and Ola were losing at least Rs 500 and Rs 420 respectively per ride, thanks to the drivers’ capability to manipulate the booking system. The Economic Times said that the drivers would make their friends book a minimum number of rides or just log in for some specified hours and earn incentives without actually ferrying passengers.

In a bid to check these misappropriations, the cab hailing services, Ola and Uber have modified their incentive models. Uber has lowered its daily incentive for a 12-hour login to Rs 3,000 from Rs 3,500, and made it mandatory for its drivers to log into the system at specified hours to be eligible for the bonus, according to the ET.

Although the financial daily didn’t receive any official correspondence from the companies, an Uber driver in Delhi has said, "We have been asked to log in from 5 am to 12 pm and 4 pm to 1 am to avail the Rs 3,000-per-day benefit. In addition, a driver also has to do a minimum three trips to avail the incentive.”

Unlike Ola, Uber’s drivers are free to accept or deny bookings. However, to make cabs available to maximum customers, Uber’s system recommends the drivers to move to high density localities.

Talking to the drivers the ET has found that while the drivers were pocketing Rs 24,000 per week without driving the cabs. The new system of Uber sends message to its drivers to change location if found idle at a particular location.
Bringing down the incentive by almost 50%, Ola has strategized to cut it’s incentives for the autos in its fleet. It has also introduced electronic wallets for Ola Auto customers, to prevent drivers from abusing its system using cash payments that are harder to track, the sources has confirmed ET.

(Image: Reuters)