If you had chatted up with the driver when you last took your Uber ride, you must have heard him cribbing about how Uber is not remitting their payments and generally have grievances. This is not limited to Uber drivers in India alone and is universal.
And Uber is out to rectify the situation and as an important step, the cab aggregator has developed and released an app for the drivers, which could mitigate many such complaints from the drivers.
The app has several new features; a real-time earnings tracker in one; a status bar in the app could inform the drivers the locations from where maximum requests for cabs are coming and this can help the drivers reach those points to get more trips. One of the grievances the Uber drivers had conveyed to the Uber management was that they lose a lot by sitting idle between trips. This could be taken care of by this provision in the app.
Drivers can also create a profile, which can help riders know more about the driver, including what he does outside of Uber.
The app is currently available to select drivers in Kochi and courier partners in Chennai. It will be rolled out in a phased manner to driver and delivery partners across the country in the coming months.
According to Uber, the app, which is still in Beta version is one among many initiatives the company plans to take, as part of what it calls ‘180 days of change’. Uber has had to face a lot of negative factors over the whole of 2017 and it has taken upon itself to correct the things wrong with the company’s policies towards its drivers.
The association between Uber and the thousands of drivers attached to its hail-cab service is unique in that these drivers are not employees on the company’s roll and are therefore not eligible for any benefits as such. Uber had asked for suggestions and feedback from its drivers and based on these only some of these steps are being moved forward.