[bejoy]

It seems the saturation level has reached. Though the article does not mention it, car pooling have also contributed to this trend. At least in the tech park I work, i don't see many app based cabs lurking around for pick up.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities...le25550788.ece

Drivers who join app-based platforms are no longer earning as much as they did even a year ago

Less than three years ago, driving a taxi, especially on mobile app-based platforms, was considered a lucrative job, one that could earn drivers as much ₹80,000 a month, if not more. This may no longer be the case: dwindling taxi registrations in the city may well be an indicator that the bubble has burst, or that the market has reached saturation level. In a span of one year between 2016-17 and 2017-18, registrations have dropped by nearly half (49%).

As taxi aggregators started to expand a few years ago, the number of registrations of new taxis, including motor cabs, maxi cabs and other taxis, started to rise. Data from the Transport Department shows that it was 9,374 in 2013-14, but increased by 48.7% the following year to 13,940. By 2015-16, it had more than doubled to 27,972 and peaked at 32,479 for the year 2016-17.

However, data for 2017-18 shows that new taxi registrations have plummeted by half with the addition of only 16,595 vehicles. This is the first time that registrations have dropped since 2014.

Drivers who join app-based platforms are no longer earning as much as they did even a year ago, which explains the steep drop in registrations, said a Transport Department official.

Srinivas, a driver on an app-based platform, recalled earning anywhere between ₹4,000 and ₹6,000 a day operating 10 trips in 2015. Some months, he would earn close to ₹1.20 lakh a month.

The same year, a BE graduate who had been working with an IT company in Bengaluru for four years, quit his job, bought a car and enrolled with an aggregator. “Taxi drivers who had partnered with aggregators were earning more than software engineers with a few years’ experience in an IT company. For a few months, everything went well, as I was earning ₹70,000 to ₹80,000 per month. But by the latter half of 2016, I was earning only ₹27,000 a month,” he said. In desperation, he decided to give up his career behind the steering wheel and return to the IT workforce.

Srinivas continues to ferry passengers for an taxi aggregator, but his monthly earnings have dropped to an average of ₹25,000. “A part of this goes towards operational costs, including fuel and maintenance, leaving very little profit,” he said.

Both men experienced this downward trend by the end of 2016, and blame it on the drop in incentives offered by platforms like Ola and Uber.

“These days, to get ₹500-₹1,000 in incentives, I have to do 15-20 trips a day. There are instances when I am spending more than 12 hours in traffic and it is taking a toll on my health,” Srinivas added.

Transport officials are not surprised by this trend.

“With the entry of taxi aggregators, competition intensified. Companies would come up with various attractive offers to lure taxi drivers,” said a senior Transport Department official.

The hey-days between 2014 and 2016 saw drivers, especially youth from small towns across Karnataka, arrive in Bengaluru in droves. They invested in cars and signed up with various apps. “However, once aggregators stabilised their business, incentives dropped. Drivers have started seeing their earnings come down even as operational costs increased. This has impacted registration of new taxis.” the official added.

This trend follows a similar trajectory for motor cabs (six plus one seats). A majority of taxis in this category are attached to aggregators like Ola and Uber, and other conventional players. From 5,570 in FY 2013-14, registrations of new vehicles rose by 244% to 19,169 in FY 2015-16. The following year, the number went up to 27,868 before dropping to 13,305 in FY 2017-18.

According to Srinivas, many of his colleagues, who bought vehicles, employed drivers with a fixed salary and enrolled them with aggregators, ending up selling their vehicles as they could not afford to run taxis.

“The city has got more taxis than required. Taxi owners are not getting enough bookings, which has affected business,” said K. Radhakrishna Holla, president of Bangalore Tourist Taxi Owners' Association (BTTOA). He cited several instances of loan companies seizing vehicles after drivers couldn’t pay their EMIs. “Other factors, too, have played a role, including higher taxes, rise in fuel price, and high cost of maintaining cars.”

Namma Metro’s expansion, too, is seeing more people trade a traffic-ridden commute by road for a ride by train to work.

[jpcoolguy]

Originally Posted by bejoy

It seems the saturation level has reached. Though the article does not mention it, car pooling have also contributed to this trend. At least in the tech park I work, i don't see many app based cabs lurking around for pick up.

Yes, though the impact of Car Pooling apps like QuickRide and sRide were not mentioned, I feel they are also one of the major contributors for the reduced number of trips for taxi aggregators which means less incentives for the drivers. Being a occasional ride provider in QuickRide, few of my co-riders mentioned how they are paying just INR 30 in QuickRide while for the same distance they have to pay close to INR 90 in a shared cab like OlaShare, UberPool, etc.

Even though the drivers are getting less or no incentives, the rate has gone steadily up nowadays both in Ola and Uber and the Fastrack seems cheaper than them sometimes. This reduction in number of taxi registrations will also have an impact on car sales which may affect the manufacturers who depends on taxi market for few of their models.

[AirbusCapt]

At least in Mumbai the ola/Uber party may last for the next 3/5 years. Once all the metro lines are completed, these guys will become almost redundant. The Mumbai metro offers seamless connectivity from one end to the other, coupled with reliability, faster speeds and air-conditioned comfort, it is a no brainier to take the train,bwith the humble autorickshaw for the last mile journey.
It's also the driver's foolishness which has led to their sad state, a job with almost zero entry barriers, decent earnings would always get flooded quickly. Now with too many cabs, the aggregators can easily armtwist them and cut costs.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Yep; this is the consistent feedback from most drivers even in Pune. They say Ola is not prompt with payment (can take many weeks vs. Uber's week) and charges a higher commission compared to Uber.

Even last week, this is exactly what an Uber driver told me. He says while he plies under both Ola and Uber, he vastly prefers Uber’s attitude to its drivers in terms of timely payments and incentives. And he says also that Ola keeps levying arbitrary fines on the drivers. Is this on account of their bid to become profitable? So does this mean Ola is “exploiting” these guys in some way?

[puchoo]

A few rides back my cabbie told me the same thing. He in fact completely switches to Uber from around 430 in the evening till 8 PM which is the peak traffic hours here in delhi / Gurgaon. Honestly as far as i go i have heard equally bad things about both the operators.

A lot of the drivers are getting on to youtube and posting conversations which they are having with Ola and Uber on topics such as this , the one below is for example related to fraud booking penalty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ZX30ndUoo

And for a simply hilarious conversation , please watch the one below!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp5bTUCFD_s

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Even last week, this is exactly what an Uber driver told me. He says while he plies under both Ola and Uber, he vastly prefers Uber’s attitude to its drivers in terms of timely payments and incentives. And he says also that Ola keeps levying arbitrary fines on the drivers. Is this on account of their bid to become profitable? So does this mean Ola is “exploiting” these guys in some way?

[narayan]

On my recent trip to Chennai I too observed the increased difficulty to get a cab on Uber and the increased fares. What more - in 2 trips - the drivers reported to the pick up point and told me that they will honour the ride only if I cancel it on Uber and pay them the fare in cash directly to them. Since it was peak hour, I had no choice and accepted.

[drmohitg]

Interesting conversation with an UBER cab driver yesterday. He said that Maruti service technicians charge them Rs. 2000 ( flat rate as per him) to reverse the odometer reading in their car in order to keep the warranty intact. Since most cab drivers cross the number of Kms quite early in their ownership period, they resort to this method to be able to enjoy the warranty till the time interval allows.

What I could not understand is that if Maruti would not be able to detect this. Otherwise this would be a huge scam being run by Maruti dealerships in which the company loses a lot of money.

[NaXal]

Ola / Uber drivers are expected to go on strike in Kolkata and suburban areas from 25/12/2018.

Main issues are as follows,

Driver Log in ID suspension punishment.
Poor wages due to low per km pricing and high commission.

Local news :- https://www.anandabazar.com/calcutta...-dgtl-1.920776

[libranof1987]

Need some help with Ola Money.

I needed an emergency inter-city Ola ride and loaded 5k in Ola Money. That ride was not required and I don't anticipate needing/using Ola enough to use that 5k.

I use an iPhone and I haven't been able to download the Ola Money app. On FAQs, I read that Ola Money can be transferred to a bank only on Android. I tried using that money for other utilities but each time I get a KYC error.

What's the solution?

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Need some help with Ola Money.

I needed an emergency inter-city Ola ride and loaded 5k in Ola Money. That ride was not required and I don't anticipate needing/using Ola enough to use that 5k.

I use an iPhone and I haven't been able to download the Ola Money app. On FAQs, I read that Ola Money can be transferred to a bank only on Android. I tried using that money for other utilities but each time I get a KYC error.

What's the solution?

Pan number should be sufficient KYC for 5K.
Try re entering the Pan number in the app.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Pan number should be sufficient KYC for 5K.
Try re entering the Pan number in the app.

I called up Ola; they said KYC is currently on hold so Ola Money - wallet and Ola Money - bank transactions are not possible on the app. I was told that they can take a manual request for the money to be refunded which will be done in 7-10 business days. Since I added the money via credit card, the refund will reflect on the card statement.

I was asked for automated feedback at the end of the call: 1 if satisfied, 0 if not. I pressed 0. Transaction shouldn't have to be so hard.

[NPV]

I rarely use taxis, but fired up the Ola app today since it was showing up a notification and I see a "Bike" option with a "New" tag. Have bike taxis become street legal in Karnataka now ? I remember about a year or two ago, some of the bike taxi operations started by some individuals and startups had run into issues with the RTO objecting to it, not sure if these have been resolved now.

[rajesh.palaria]

I used the Ola Bike Taxi today to travel to Whitefield from Indiranagar in Bangalore and bill stood at INR 210 which is not VFM.
There was nothing premium or the driver cared a hoot about security /helmet /Head Mask/wipe as the Ola person who called me few weeks back to try their service.
But I took it because I had to get to office quick and 2 wheeler made sense.
I have used Bike Taxis in Thailand and those step through scooters completely make sense.

I would not avail it frequently (baring when I need to travel faster), I felt the drivers don't know the etiquette to say the least. I will revisit my decision if Ola happens to introduce better vehicles and great drivers for this service.

For short trips it is worth.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by rajesh.palaria

I will revisit my decision if Ola happens to introduce better vehicles and great drivers for this service.

Not going to happen, because where would they find a pool of safe, law-abiding riders from which to recruit?

Take taxi bikes if you want to be treated like a pizza.

[rajesh.palaria]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Not going to happen, because where would they find a pool of safe, law-abiding riders from which to recruit?

Take taxi bikes if you want to be treated like a pizza.

Hahaha, what an irony yet true that indeed you are spot on with the Pizza treatment. Maybe "Fragile" stickers on the forehead would help.
The driver who had arrived indeed said he does food delivery as his main gig and Ola is to cover the extra time at hand.

Exactly but then if they wish/want they could train drivers to not be like "30 mins delivery or free" kind of drivers