500 drivers of online cab aggregator service protest against ‘unfair’ charge

PUNE: Around 500 drivers of the cab aggregator service Ola staged a protest in the city on Friday alleging that the company slapped them with charges they weren’t aware of and that it followed an unfair profit sharing policy.

The protest was staged outside the company’s office at Raja Bahadur Mill Road.

The drivers said that all of them were tagged with Ola as per the lease scheme that had been launched a few years ago. Under the scheme, drivers can lease vehicles from Ola after paying a security deposit and rent amount everyday.

As of now, more than 1,000 drivers are on the lease scheme. The drivers alleged that the company has been charging them wrongly. “The company’s profit sharing, rental and ‘dry run’, or the distance travelled by the empty car on the way to pick up a passenger, is unfair and exploitative. This is making life difficult for us despite working long hours,” a driver shared.

Under the scheme, a driver can lease a car after entering into an agreement with the company and paying a fixed security deposit that varies from car to car. For example, the deposit for cars in the Mini category ranges from Rs16,000 to Rs21,000 and for those in the Prime category is at Rs31,000.

“The implementation of policies such as charging Rs2 per km and Rs4 per km for the Mini and Prime category cars, if the daily run of the vehicle is beyond 200km, has caused a real dip in profit. he company officials say that everything is in the agreement. We asked them to provide the agreement in Hindi or Marathi so that we can understand it but they have not done so,” another driver explained.

The drivers claimed that a Mini category car earns a revenue of about Rs3000, per day. “At present, we pay around Rs860 as daily rental and 20% of the gross revenue or around Rs600, in addition to Rs2, per km, for every kilometre over the 200km daily limit and fuel cost. Most of us entered into the contract with Ola believing that we will easily make Rs20,000 to Rs25,000, a month. However, with so many cuts, we are finding it difficult to make ends meet,” driver Amol Bhosle told TOI.

A spokesperson for the cab aggregator service said, “At Ola, we follow a structured induction process where we explain all the necessary guidelines in detail, at the time of on-boarding a new driver partner. Additionally, all financial transactions are in line with the signed agreements.”