Ola Lures Drivers With Over INR 70K Per Month Earnings To Expand Bike Taxi Service

Ride-hailing major Ola, which relaunched its bike taxi services in Bengaluru last month with its ebikes, is reportedly wooing drivers with promise of a monthly income of more than INR 70,000 per month.

As per a pamphlet distributed at an onboarding centre in the city, Ola would be charging a security deposit of INR 5,000 from the drivers for renting its ebike. The Bhavish Aggarwal-led company claimed that drivers can earn more than INR 70,000 per month with Ola bike taxi service, as per Moneycontrol.

 In order to rent an Ola S1 Air and use it as a bike taxi, a driver would be required to provide PAN card, Aadhaar, bank details, and a valid driver’s licence.

The publication said that many young individuals were found to have queued up at the enrolment centre to join Ola’s ebike taxi service. 

However, Ola’s claim of earnings of over INR 70,000 per month come with several terms and conditions.

As per the pamphlet, Ola has set daily fixed earnings for its ebike taxi drivers at INR 800 for 10-14 bookings. However, the drivers will have to pay a daily rental of INR 100 for that.

For 15-19 bookings, the daily incentive has been set at INR 1,300, with the rental amount set at INR 50.

For daily bookings of more than 20 per day, the drivers are not required to pay any daily rental but can earn in a range of INR 1,800 to INR 2,800.

Meanwhile, the drivers are not eligible for any daily fixed income if their bookings are below 10 per day, but they are expected to pay INR 300 as rental amount. 

For the passengers, Ola has set a rate of INR 25 for 5 km and INR 50 for 10 km for the bike taxi service, as per the rate chart shared by the company last month.

On using the service, Inc42 found that passengers are being charged as per this rate card. However, ebike taxi service was found to be unavailable in several parts of Bengaluru, including Yeshwanthpur, Malleshwaram, and Whitefield. This was on expected lines as the service has been relaunched recently and the company is still onboarding drivers for it. 

Meanwhile, a questionnaire sent to Ola seeking further information about its claims of drivers earning over INR 70,000 per month, the number of ebike taxis on the road, and daily bookings for the service remained unanswered till the time of publishing this story.

As per the Moneycontrol report, a rider said that a fully charged Ola S1 escooter runs around 70-75 km. While he is required to complete 10 rides to earn an incentive of INR 800, the vehicle battery drains out after seven-eight trips. The escooter then takes more than six hours to fully recharge.

It must be noted that while Ola has used aggressive tactics to hire drivers in the past, it has also landed the startup in trouble in some cases. Last year Inc42 reported about Ola cab drivers taking the company to court alleging cheating, fraud, and exploitation.

Meanwhile, Ola hasn’t yet received a licence from the Karnataka transport department to run its ebike taxi services in the state. 

The company applied for a licence last month.

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