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Old 27th August 2015, 12:33   #91
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?

As forecasted by some members here, looks like the holidays for Uber drivers are getting over.
Wonder if this is just a small blip in operations or an indication of things to come.


Uber drivers stage dharna in Hyderabad

More than 500 drivers working with popular taxi-hailing app, Uber, held a protest alleging that the company had failed to fulfil its commitment in providing good business as well as incentives.

The drivers, supported by Telangana Cabs and Bus Operators Association, staged a dharna and raised slogans against the management outside Uber’s city headquarters at HICC in Madhapur.

The Madhapur police, who learnt about the issue, reached the spot and tried to diffuse the situation.

According to the drivers, Uber had promised them a monthly income of about Rs. 70,000 but they are not able to earn more than Rs. 15,000/- per month due to the drastic cut in incentives and number of trips.

The drivers said that the sudden change in business model and policies of the management had pushed them into debts because they had taken loans or mortgaged properties to buy the taxis.

“Most of the drivers, who were working with different cab operators, had quit their regular jobs and joined Uber with the hope of earning a good amount. However, their dreams were shattered and all of them fell into huge debt traps after Uber cheated them,” said Syed Nizamuddin, president of the Association. The drivers have decided to intensify the protest if the Uber management fails to come up with a concrete solution by Thursday.
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Old 27th August 2015, 13:09   #92
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?

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Originally Posted by DriverR View Post
According to the drivers, Uber had promised them a monthly income of about Rs. 70,000 but they are not able to earn more than Rs. 15,000/- per month due to the drastic cut in incentives and number of trips.
Ah the "worker class", they will never own up and become entrepreneur! Always want someone else to take the risk, but expect the rewards to be "shared fairly".
The drastic cut in incentives and the number of trips has occurred not because of any other reason but themselves only; but they ignore this and try to blame someone else.

What will happen if the number of drivers in a city rise 10 fold?

Also about the promise of Rs 70000 monthly income - I am 100% sure it would have been advertised by Uber/Ola that a driver may earn up to Rs 7000 a month provided a scenario of XXX customers, YYY drivers, ZZZ fuel costs etc. Why ignore the conditions?

Last edited by alpha1 : 27th August 2015 at 13:12.
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Old 3rd September 2015, 13:54   #93
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?

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Not too long ago, they couldn't wait to jump on to the Ola and Uber bandwagon. Today, there is a perceptible sense of discontent among drivers employed with the cab aggregators. While Monday witnessed a massive protest by Ola cabbies outside its office, Uber drivers followed suit on Tuesday.

A common spark ignited both the protests - payment delay. The companies claim to have 'amicably' solved the issues on the spot.

"Customers are not booking our cabs due to high fares. They blame us for cheating them but they are unaware of the reality. The management charges them much more than the original rate and ensures they don't pay in cash but through the virtual wallet. We are paid a paltry Rs 150 from the entire fare," said Ola cabbie Swami Gowda.

Another Ola driver, Khalandar, complained of irregular incentives. "The management pays us an incentive of Rs 500 after completing 12 trips and Rs 750 for 14 trips. On Saturdays and Sundays, we get Rs 1,000 for 14 trips. I was at the wheel for an entire day; I made 13 trips from morning to midnight last Sunday. But the management cancelled my entire incentive amount just because one %trip was cancelled by a customer at the eleventh hour. One can imagine how it feels to slog for hours, only to get cheated by the company and abused by the customer," Khalandar rued.

"When the company charges the customer twice or thrice the normal fare, it is fooling him/her. We don't get that money at all; it is pocketed entirely by the company. As per the law, there is nothing called peak-hour surcharge. Four months ago, we used to get an incentive of Rs 150 for every booking but now the aggregator has discontinued that too," an Uber driver told TOI.

To attract more business, the cab aggregator is changing the incentive scheme every day, said Rajesh K, who drives an Ola auto rickshaw. "I have reduced the number of bookings through Ola. I take only two to three bookings through the app now," Rajesh pointed out.

Another Uber driver said many of them have gone back to ferrying working professionals and tourists.
Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/48781572.cms
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Old 3rd September 2015, 14:22   #94
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?

Why should so many have blindly fallen for this scheme of "too good to be true"? Cannot blame them when they see their friends and colleague making the dough big time during the initial months. They are running out of the VC money now and hence the newer policies coming in. Now they have the customer base and the driver base. Many have got used to their apps for booking cabs. I would prefer them over the ever refusing Rickshaws.

It was quite open to the naked eye. They ought to pay the driver but then still offer free rides to customers.

But it is also clear that these drivers are making a mountain over a molehill. For a lot of the drivers, the Ola/Uber will always be more profitable considering the customer base that they have created. If not for Ola/Uber, they would have to depend on the fancy of the Taxi operators (which have a much much smaller customer base) or their Colleagues etc.
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Old 3rd September 2015, 19:25   #95
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?

There is a good supply of drivers in the bigger cities and the demand is also decent.

Although Uber has not expanded to as many cities as Ola has, there is a serious dearth of Ola drivers in smaller cities (my experience is limited to Bhopal, Patna and Dehradun). You can never be sure if you will get an Ola when you need it.

I was talking to one of Ola drivers in Dehradun, he mentioned that he gets 2 or 3 bookings on a good day. I don't think that translates to a sustainable revenue at all. But does that mean that there is not enough demand for cabs in smaller cities? Not really, you see way too many autos who sometimes even charge up to 40 rupees per km.

The traditional cab/auto system has clearly not been disrupted in these places as Ola's and Uber's intention is.

Going forward, Ola (and hopefully Uber) need to get more drivers to sign up outside of the metros as well as do some organic marketing rather than burn VC money alone.
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Old 1st October 2015, 18:56   #96
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?

This sums the whole thing up pretty damn well

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Old 9th October 2015, 17:46   #97
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?

Not sure if this is shared before or not. Interesting that some guys are making lots of money with these cabs and working as a driver. It also says some passionate people also doing it, shocking indeed.
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Old 11th October 2015, 08:36   #98
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?



I decided to try OLA for the first time and I had this referral coupon which offered free first ride or a discount of Rs. 300 whichever was lower. I booked a cab using this offer and a cabbie immediately called me asking for drop location. As soon as I told him the location, he refused to give me a ride citing that he had been working continuously for 2 days and he was headed home. He thought of dropping me if my destination matched his destination. Hence I had no option but to hail another cab.

The first cabbie told me that he would cancel the cab request at his end so that I could take another cab and make use of the free ride offer. Then cabbie 2 calls me and agrees to drop me. At the end of the ride, I was charged Rs. 175. I was wondering if cabbie 2 was taking me for a ride, as I was in a hurry I decided to pay and take it up later.

After reaching home I called up OLA customer care to enquire about what was going on. The executive told me that, cabbie 1, instead of cancelling the request, had accepted the cab request and closed it after a couple of minutes indicating that the ride was complete. After explaining to the executive, OLA decided to reactive that offer code for me and was told that action would be taken against the errant cabbie.

I am posting this because after some research on goggle, I found similar stories where customers were cheated and OLA got blamed.
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Old 19th October 2015, 13:17   #99
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?

Quote:
Originally Posted by aniketi View Post
Not sure if this is shared before or not. Interesting that some guys are making lots of money with these cabs and working as a driver. It also says some passionate people also doing it, shocking indeed.
Even CFOs from huge enterprises are doing the same, a recent news about Infy CFO
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/49423439.cms

Also, a nice insight upon Ola/Uber's business economics and how much ola/uber drivers make -
http://capitalmind.in/2015/10/the-ec...d-the-company/
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Old 19th October 2015, 16:29   #100
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?

Happened to chat with a elderly Ola cabbie driver few days back & here is the summary:
1. He drives typically from 2:30pm to 11:30pm (or less) due to his health condition. Used to be a truck driver earlier and now drives this city cab for a living.
2. Has to make a minimum of 7 trips a day to earn some incentive. Additional incentive if they make 10+ & 14+ trips in a day. Many drivers manage to handle 10+ & 14+ trips a day he says.
3. Earns around 1000rs per day + Ola incentives (Ola money - as he calls it) easily covers his EMI (approx 11K per month). He is not burdened to pay the installment at the end of the month. Has never had any issues with the payment from Ola.

He says, it is comfortable for him. He does not rush through his trips & drives at a slow pace (drove neatly). He is happy for what it is right now. The car becomes his own at the end of the tenure. Ola has financed/supported his car purchase & EMI goes directly from Ola. Has not explored other options (read Uber) as he is satisfied with this, but says his co-drivers there make more. He is worried of what will happen if the incentives vanish.
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Old 6th November 2015, 18:01   #101
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?

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Originally Posted by deepv View Post
Even CFOs from huge enterprises are doing the same, a recent news about Infy CFO
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/49423439.cms

Also, a nice insight upon Ola/Uber's business economics and how much ola/uber drivers make -
http://capitalmind.in/2015/10/the-ec...d-the-company/
Thanks for the mention and the link. (I'm the author of the Capital Mind Link)

Uber's changing incentives often now, but overall they have been coming down. The interesting thing is that many drivers are locked in due to high EMIs and will not quit until a point where taxiing corporates gives them a better deal....
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Old 7th November 2015, 01:24   #102
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?

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Originally Posted by deepakshenoy View Post
...
Uber's changing incentives often now, but overall they have been coming down. ...
Thanks for the detailed article .. Deepak!
I keep following CapitalMind on and off, find your articles very informative and easy to understand.

The incentives for Uber weren't coming out that great in Hyderabad (see link from an earlier post):
Now these driver would be further stressed.
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Old 4th January 2016, 22:34   #103
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?

Request to gain some insight into commercial (T Permit) Registrations.

Apart from insurance, maintenance and fuel costs, what are the charges/fees/taxes for owning and running a commercial vehicle?
Are there any conditions? Eight years permit? Resale of car? Depreciation?
Charges to transfer to private registration?

Appreciate answers to my questions. Thanks.
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Old 12th May 2016, 11:01   #104
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?

Meanwhile in the US, Uber and smaller rival Lyft are attempting to settle lawsuits by drivers who contend they should be classified as employees and therefore entitled to reimbursement for expenses, including gasoline and vehicle maintenance. Drivers currently pay those costs themselves.

Drivers who worked for ride-hailing service Uber in California and Massachusetts over the past seven years would have been entitled to an estimated $730 million in expense reimbursements had they been employees rather than contractors

Article: http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/other...ers/ar-BBsQgu4
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Old 12th May 2016, 22:22   #105
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Re: How much money does an Uber / Ola driver make?

http://www.hindustantimes.com/busine...6VBISZY9L.html

Interesting read.

Quote:
The growing number of drivers is another reason for the falling income. “Pune is a small city and the demand is limited,” said Narayan. “The supply of Ola and Uber cabs is more than the demand.”
There are others like Poonam who drive at night to compensate for these factors and earn a decent income. But this cannot be a long-term solution.
Ola and other aggregators, says Shetty, should keep a check on registrations. “Maybe they should stop taking enrolments at regular intervals, to regulate the number of cabs,” Shetty said.
When supply exceeds demand, returns dip. That’s simple economics.
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