What did the removal of surge pricing during the odd-even scheme mean for cab aggregators, customers and drivers in Delhi? Passengers were relieved, cab aggregators got the high moral ground and drivers felt deprived.

To do away with surge-prices (hike in charges when demand spiked) while the odd-even system is in force, cab-aggregators deleted a feature from their app that let the drivers see where crowds of passengers were and chase the demand on a real-time basis.

Drivers’ perspective

In Delhi, when the drivers of a cab aggregator opened their mobile app on first day of the odd-even system on November 4, they could not see where a large bunch of riders was waiting to ask for rides. This prevented the drivers from chasing the high demand areas. As a result, drivers said they lost the chance to make some more money.

Drivers rued the lost opportunity and felt that the cab aggregators should have given up their margins or commissions.

Drivers told BusinessLine that from the total amount paid by customers for a trip, they lose roughly 30 per cent to the cab aggregators and government (25 per cent as commission to the cab aggregator companies and 5 per cent as GST).

“At times, the company’s commission even reaches up to 35-45 per cent of the total fare. During odd-even, capping or waiving off of surge has resulted in the drivers losing out, as the company has not lowered its commission,” several drivers said. According to some drivers’ bills seen by BusinessLine , one of the cab aggregators has a 19 per cent commission.

Some drivers also said that they were making less money for the same number of work hours. “Earlier, after 16-18 hours of work, we used to get ₹1,500-1,600 a day. Now, we make anything between ₹1,000-1,400 a day after 16-18 hours of work,” said Ganesh (name changed), one of the drivers.

Losing out on surge price benefits and having to work extra hours for the same incentive anguished some drivers to the extent that they protested against the scheme.

“If the cab-aggregator companies call us driver partners, then how can they lower or increase per km rate without onboarding us,” asked Lambodar, another driver, from the Sarvodaya Drivers Association , a union of Ola and Uber drivers.

Drivers continued to offer services despite their opposition as they had to keep their household expenses running and repay their car loans, particularly at a time when the price of some staple food like onions soared.

That said, the drivers also reported some positives: more rides, emptier roads and shorter queues at CNG stations (the odd-even 2019 included CNG-fuelled four-wheelers, which account for a large number of private vehicles).