Here’s who is benefitting from Ola, Uber drivers’ strike

The strike called by Ola and Uber drivers in Delhi has entered the sixth day and so far, none of the parties have shown the signs of breaking the deadlock. In the meantime, Delhiites are facing major inconvenience as Ola and Uber cabs are off roads.

The Sarvodaya Driver Association of Delhi (SDAD) plans to continue the indefinite strike until their demands are addressed by either these two app-based cab aggregators or the Delhi government.

Drivers are agitating against low fares and lack of basic amenities from Ola and the union accused both the companies of making tall promises to drivers - like they would earn as much as Rs. 1.5 lakh every month.

Amid the chaos, Delhiiites preferred other carpooling cabs, which saw a surge in traffic in last six days.

Orahi, a car pooling platform, saw an increase of 27% in the traffic and 32% in rides on their platform.

Orahi COO and Founder Arun Bhati said he was not surprised to see Uber and Ola drivers protesting, adding drivers made good money at the outset when the fleet size was small and the aggregators had the money to burn.

“Of late with the funding dried up and the supply of cabs have increased in huge numbers, drivers' income have gone very low. The recent strike has resulted in 27% increase in traffic on our servers and 32% more people are doing carpool than the usual growth,” said Bhati.

Besides, Revv, which is a car-sharing platform, witnessed a 40% increase in its bookings.

"Events like the current strike of cab drivers induce more trials, and also serve as a real guidance on the likely future of car-sharing once we cross the awareness barrier. Our demand in Delhi has increased by around 40% on weekdays, likely due to the ongoing strike,” Revv co-founders, Anupam Agarwal and Karan Jain, said.

Even Jugnoo, which is an auto-aggregator, saw an increase in trips per day.

Chinmay Agarwal, COO & Co-Founder , Jugnoo, said, “Demand has increased by more than 100% in Noida, Gurgaon and Delhi across Jugnoo auto rickshaws and cabs services.”