Oh la, hope you’re listening!

It was a usual day at work for me, happened to know my vehicle wasn’t ready yet from the service station I was left to choose a cab. Searching through, received a notification with an offer to pay through Ola money & save few bucks out of the ride. Usually I prefer paying cash for my rides since the Drivers are really happy in that way. Just attracted to the offer though, loaded my wallet with a struggle at the gateway. Tried booking by taking a walk few meters to find my ride which was few minutes away.

The driver greeted me, noting in his ride book. Instantly, he was desperate enough to show me the ride book which was full of Ola money rides. Usually I try conversing with Drivers if I find something interesting in them. Since I always had a question ‘Why do Drivers hate the wallet system?’, I decided to capitalize on the opportunity in asking all my questions to him.

When does the money gets credited to his account?
What is his daily earnings?
What are the charges and other deductions in the wallet system?
What would be his daily expenses?
What is his major expense for the day that takes much of his earnings?

Yes, he was patient enough to answer me these and I was literally calculating his income over his expenses made. Shocked to know that his fuel expenses were the ones that was eating out his entire earnings. Equally surprised to know how does he even run his family in such a situation. Started wondering why couldn’t there be a solution to it & was lucky enough to think one for it.

Here is the earning split up for the day:

If X is the amount of earning per day by the driver. Due to convenience and marketing by Ola, almost 70% of the money is routed to Ola money. With the remaining 30%, the Driver is left to feed his family and his car. It takes a week for him to encash his Ola money which literally becomes difficult for him to mange with the meagre 30% to run his family and his car together.

Why shouldn’t Ola come up with a prepaid card system that can be directly linked to the Driver’s account with which he can fuel up his vehicle and receive the rest of his money into his account weekly. This not only can give him the peace of mind to work but also enhance those digital transactions indeed.

My Two Cents:
The system for Drivers to use Ola money will be a needful solution which can be a mutual benefit to both the Commuters and the Drivers together. After all we are moving forward into Digital India and why not encourage them to switch to the Cashless mode of payment.

Ola, are you listening!

Word play by RF @RajeshTheRF