Drivers associated with cab aggregating platforms Ola and Uber in Chennai went on strike today citing falling incentives. This to some extentdisrupted in availability of cabs in the city.

Similar protests were observed in major cities like the NCR region and Bengaluru last month. Major concerns of the drivers related to fall in incentives and subsequent drop in income in the past few months.

Ola and Uber had introduced a number of incentives to attract drivers, who were able to earn over ₹1 lakh a month initially.

As more drivers signed up in the last one year, incentive schemes became more stringent and drivers were unable to meet the target even after putting in 15 hours of work.

If the drivers were earning ₹6,000 per day a year ago working for 10 hours a day, it has come down to ₹2,000 in recent times, most of which goes in meeting the cost of diesel.

It has had huge impact on their income and many find it hard to pay back loan for their cars and houses, according to Vinod Mariappan, a driver associated with one of the platforms for the last two years.

Mariappan says he used to earn over ₹1.30 lakh per month and was able to avail himself of loan for a vehicle and even a small one bedroom house in Chennai suburbs. But now, things are different. “Even if I’m online for about 15 hours, I hardly make ₹1,500 in a day. I take home ₹500,” Mariappan said.

This sentiment resonates with most of the drivers working with the aggregator platforms, many of whom went on strike today. M Ramesh, another cab driver, said, “What we now want is for them to revise the pricing. Now, we run the cab for ₹6 per kilometre, which is less than the auto fare. This has to change to benefit us.”

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