Indian Startups Community

by ChasingImpetus

9 months ago

Ola ebike - Driver Earnings

I tried Ola ebike service for commuting a short distance ~ 5km. The experience was good and the fare was also cheap(50 Rs.). I spoke to the driver about earnings and whether he has to give EMI for the OE bike. Then he showed me the below table - how his earnings are calculated. I got shocked at seeing the high earnings amount - upto 4.5K daily which amounts to 1.35 lac monthly! He told me that Ola ebike is for short distances only - Upto 7-8 kms. And he is able to get average 3-4 rides in 1 hour, and he also doesn't have to pay for the vehicle rent. The Charging is also free at Ola Chargers. I couldn't help but wonder how can Ola sustain with this much spending. If they're giving upto 1lac to every driver and charging the user very less, that's a lot of cash burn.

AlphaGrindset

Series A Startup

9 months ago

Very interesting The very cool thing is, in the US gig work is typically part time. You can easily ride an uber for a few hours a day to make extra bucks. These companies are creating incentive structures to ensure people work at least 10 hours a day with them.

Sixing

Games24x7

9 months ago

Yeah I asked this to dunzo ex head of product once during an interview, why incentivise long working hours when you have so many ppl in this country, most of whom are jobless, and can work 3-4 hours instead of 10-12 hours of excruciating shifts. He had no answer. But the reality is it's all about exploitation. You would not attract anyone working 2-3 hours who will just earn 100-200 in that duration. Not are the customers are willing to pay a premium. So exploit these drivers and keep their incentives in a way that they work 10-12 hours, earn a respecting daily wage(600-700). With this incentive structure it's not gig work and i seriously hope govt regulaize this and provide basic benefits like paid time off, some insurance to these workers who are literally working for these gig companies.

AlphaGrindset

Series A Startup

9 months ago

@Fixing Very interesting share. Didn't think they would not have a good reasoning behind this. Just pure "we can do it so let's do it"

ChasingImpetus

Early Stage Startup

9 months ago

Two Things 1. I know that this is to boost adoption, but still isn't giving 1lac monthly to bike drivers insane. 2. In the case that Ola ebike does get popular for short commute distances. I'm not sure if people would want to buy Ola Electric scooter for themselves, as it's no longer as aspirational if it's quite common for Bike taxi.

Gupchup

TCS

9 months ago

My views too

Kenpachi

Veritas technology

9 months ago

Lol people don't buy scooters because it's aspirational. They buy because it's cheap, convienient commute. Only car purchase or high end sports bike is aspirational purchase in India

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FancyChino64

Stealth

9 months ago

It all starts like this and reaches a stage where the drivers will not be able.to get decent earnings after a while. 10 years back, ola, Uber earnings used to be like this and people used to compare software job salaries with their earnings

BearGang

Goldman Sachs

9 months ago

34 trips a day seems like a lot - with a 5km trip in blr there’s no way he can do 4 of those in an hour. They probably know it too hence the very steep tail - 1000rs extra to go from 28-30 trips to 31-33 and another 1000 more for 34+. 15 hour work day easy to have to reach those numbers

sleep

Stealth

9 months ago

That’s how you get the flywheel to spin 😅, more peeps taking Ola e-Bike = more people eventually buying an e-Bike. This will help Ola sell the current scooters and the upcoming premium scooters 🙂. #win-win

Goodi

NoCompany

9 months ago

this was in the news in Oct. They wanted to go aggressive as a business strategy. Once it is established they will change the rate card. This is how it is for all new tech/app adoption strategy in India. Economic times "Ola’s aggressive push comes as it seeks to expand its e-bike service across Bengaluru city and get a head start over rivals including Uber in the face of opposition from autorickshaw drivers."

Gooner7

Goldman Sachs

9 months ago

This is extremely interesting to see. Wow

Doofus

InMobi

9 months ago

So much wrong is in this math. If he averages 3 or 4 rides, to earn the MG he has to do 20-30 hours in a day

random_tom

Startup

9 months ago

Still they don't show ebike option in my ola app

Remember23

Paytm

9 months ago

Noob question. How do you book a ride on ola ebike

TinyHumidity

Stealth

9 months ago

A) I think ola electric has launch an ipon now so this will add to revenues there. B) kill/bleed completion c) they hold all cards with respect to rides, they can reduce the pace of rides given to driver who reached 24 and above in a day or give long rides to such drivers. This way no one crosses above 60 k.