Behavioral pattern- OLA drivers

The two largest cab aggregators in India are UBER (the international brand) and OLA (the Indian multinational). As a frequent user of these cabs, one of my favourite pass-time is to observe the behaviour of the driver and also make small talk with him about his work, the traffic and the world at large. A general observation is that UBER drivers tend to be more of the silent type while OLA drivers appear happy to talk. This is surprising, since many of them drive for both the aggregators. 

OLA drivers’ behaviour can be classified under 2 heads — 1) Pre-boarding 2) Post-boarding. Pre-boarding has multiple sub-sets. One, the cab arrives at your doorstep and you board it. Two, the cab takes a while and when you call up the driver, he asks you your destination.  When you name it, Voila, next moment he cancels the trip. The system starts the rigmarole of finding an alternate cab. Typically, this happens when you are a little before the peak-hour surcharge start time. the drivers wait for the peak-hour before accepting trips. Three, the driver calls you and not bothering about the destination, his question is about the mode of payment – Cash or OLA Money. If you say the latter, some polite drivers reply they have to fill gas/diesel for the trip and hence would prefer cash. They request you to cancel. The other breed, on hearing the term ‘OLA Money’, quietly cancels the trip on their own. Becomes quite irritating at times. Wonder why OLA has the concept of OLA Money at all. In one instance, the cab arrived and I boarded and mentioned the code. Then the driver asked the question ” Cash or OLA Money?”. When I replied ‘ Ola Money’, he requested me to get off and find another cab as he had not started the trip yet. I threatened him about complaining to OLA and the nearby Police Station. Very reluctantly he started off and throughout the journey his face  was glum.

Not all drivers are glum though, in fact most of them are quite cheerful. Some welcome you with a ‘Good morning” as you board. Other post-boarding observations are that most of the times, the air-conditioning is low and you have to tell them to cool it further.  Some of the drivers keep playing music on the stereo without asking the passenger’s okay. Some do not even tone it down when you are on your mobile and have to be told to do so. So much for etiquette! Some drivers have this habit of continuously talking on their mobiles  ( no not to the next waiting passenger) but to fellow-drivers, their boss or family members. I often tell them to cut the call and concentrate on the road as my safety was involved.

No doubt, the drivers’ concentration could waver, but I concede I do indulge in small talk at times and in some cases, the drivers too initiate the talk. The favourite topics seem to be 1) The traffic 2) Their profession. I learnt from talking to a few drivers that OLA delays payments to them and also getting incentives had become far tougher now.Still, many feel that if they work hard for around 10-12 hours a day, they can make decent money. Some drivers have a sneaking suspicion that the systems are rigged in such a way that juicier trips are first offered to OLA-owned cabs rather than the ones running as part of the aggregation model. How much of this is true, I do not know. During and around the time of the prolonged strike of OLA & UBER , many drivers felt that the strike was unwarranted and their daily earnings were impacted.

One young driver spoke to me in impeccable English and I could make out he was educated. I asked him and he mentioned he was pursuing his MBA and the cab belonged to his father. As the employee driver had not come in, he was driving the cab for the day. Wow, I thought! There was this other driver, whose cab ran over a small pot-hole with a thud and an ‘ouch’ escaped my lips. He immediately started saying that the roads in Mumbai were horrible and I should visit his native Uttar Pradesh to see the excellent roads there.This was months before the Parliamentary elections were announced and he added that if Modiji returns to power, the UP roads would improve further. The devil in me posed the question to him — ” What about the Mahagatbandhan?”. He was quite dismissive and said they had hardly done any work for the masses and hence had no chance. Talk about Exit-polls and here was a direct report on ground realities. Election campaign was on in full swing when I traveled in another OLA cab in Delhi. The driver was a muslim from Uttar Pradesh and he spoke about his joint-family there and the vehicles they owned. He said he would vote for the Mahagatbandhan. When asked why, he said last time round he had voted for the BJP but the local MP did not deliver on his promise of building a pucca road in the neighbourhood, which the people did out of their own funds. He added that if BJP wins, it will be good for the country though. Such clarity of thought- local issues, national issues and monitoring of performance of elected representatives!

Another incident was when this driver appeared eager to talk to me. He burst out ” Are you from Rajasthan?”. My answer was a cryptic ‘No’. Seeing his crestfallen face, I knew he wanted me to ask him about his native place. I obliged and he replied with with a smile ” I am from UK”. ‘Oh, which place in Uttarkhand, I asked.’ Again that crestfallen look and a sheepish smile — ‘ Aap samjhdaar ho,bahut log UK ko United Kingdom samajh lete hain’. 

One incident was not too pleasant. My journey was 75% complete when the driver started pleading with me that he would get me an alternate cab and I should complete the journey in it. When asked why, he mentioned that he had a regular customer to be picked-up. He had miscalculated the time and if did not go there, he would stand to lose INR 1000. I told him to behave but he was pleading with traces of tears in his eyes. He hailed another cab for me ( not an OLA) but I was not amused. I called up OLA, complained about the driver and demanded my fare back. They promised to take action against him and credited the fare amount to my account. Despite this, the driver heaved a sigh of relief, thanked me and sped off. Was in Chennai and got talking with this aged OLA driver. He asked me where I was from and when I said Mumbai, his eyes lit up. He recalled his 10- year stint in Mumbai, staying in Dharavi and being the driver for a famous surgeon in Hinduja Hospital and how he learnt to speak  Hindi and Marathi.

Despite whatever grievances these guys may have, I have a sneaking suspicion that OLA helps them get passengers quickly and on a continual basis. Know why? At least 3-4 times it has happened during a ride — the driver would request and take a small bio-break at one of the public urinals, which means he hardly had any free time. You can make out the new drivers from their slightly nervous look as they request you to give them a good rating while getting off. All said and done, I have found that what makes all these drivers happy is when you get off and say ” Thank You”. It really seems to boost their self-esteem. No extra cost, try it out.