Ola, Uber Introduces Service Fee For Drivers To Prevent Them From Using Rival Platforms

With the growth of cab usage service in India, and the aggressive plans picked up by these cab hailing app companies, apart from the riders, drivers too get a chance to choose the service they want to opt for.

It’s often observed that the drivers flick between Ola and Uber to get customers throughout the day, but now it seems this will not be possible. Looking at this trend, Ola and Uber have started charging their drivers INR 300 per week as a service fee in order to prevent them from using other platforms.

For instance, a driver registered with Ola will pay INR 300 a week and it would not make sense for him to register with rival aggregator and spend another INR 300 in the same week, as that would add up to INR 600 a week. Hence, a driver who pays the company will stick to it.

Regardless of usage, this charge (INR 300) is attributed to phone, mobile Internet connections and other services that are provided by the cab aggregators.

Last month, Ola had sent a text message to its drivers saying that it will be charging INR 300 per week for the next 6 months and INR 75 per week post six months as platform management fee.

Unlike Ola, Uber charges the same amount, but also offers its drivers with an option to use their own smartphones and avoid the payment of INR 300.

Interestingly, both the companies have introduced this new fee in the same month.

Both Ola and Uber have been seen aggressively working to introduce incentive schemes for its driver to make them stick their organisation for a longer duration.

It will be interesting to see how this move helps both the companies while considering the high salary they pay to their drivers. An Uber driver, for eg. can earn upto INR 1.2 Lakh a month, and shelling out INR 600 a week and total INR 3200 a month might not be a problem for him.

This development was first reported by Mint.

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