You open the PickMe or Uber app and hail a ride. Minutes goby and perhaps hours but no one turns up. But you can see many taxies in your vicinity some times going in front of you without stopping. Is that a bug? May be the network is congested with too many rides?

First we need to understand the business model in the perspective of the driver.

Business Model

The likes of PickMe and Uber work under the a commission model. According to what a driver told me, when they earn Rs 100, they owe the network Rs 30. That is a significant percentage of their earnings. There are 2 ways to pay - cash and card. When you pay cash, the the driver will owe the company its commission. When you pay card, the company will deduct their commission and deposit the money in the drivers bank account.

You may have noticed that drivers prefer cash instead of card. This is the reason. If they accept cash, they have more at hand now. If they accept card, they have less later. So if they have to pump petrol immediately card is not an option for them.

Should the customer be sensitive about the matter? In these difficult times I think we should show some leniency. Otherwise IMO it is not the customers problem.

The Seasonal Activity

While humans like to think they are so above animals, seasonally, just like animals, people migrate. In the case of Sinhala and Tamil New Year it is in the order

• Go Shopping
• Go Home / Village

Shopping picks up a month before the new year event and peaks in the week before. Despite the COVID19 pandemic shops are jam-packed. All these customers inside the shops come out exhausted with heavy bags. This means there are going to be no shortage of customers in the roads.

Drivers Going Solo

As I mentioned above drivers need to pay heavy commissions for the service. They also need to celebrate new year. Meaning they would prefer to have extra money in their pocket for the new clothes and gifts.

They will hover around the city and pick up customers on their own. This way they don't have to pay a hefty commission. That way they also have the benefit of picking up a customer willing to pay cash. This makes a big difference in the perspective of the driver. That is why they will ignore the network call and go solo. Better for their pockets.

Conclusion

It is the responsibility of the networks to address the issue. After all people depend on such services. Some times it is to go on a date or meet a client. Neither would appreciate us coming late. Some times it is to visit the doctors. What ever the reason people today especially in Colombo depend on ride sharing. Ride sharing companies make a decent earning. It is their responsibility to keep the service running.

What can be done?

It is not our business to speculate. They have well paid "smart" people hired for this purpose. They are the ones who have the experience and data. They should figure it out. It is acceptable that during seasons like Avurudu the network gets so booked riders are not available. But that doesn't seem to be the case. That emanates smell that states some fine tuning is long overdue. They need to balance between their profits, customer happiness and also the wellbeing of their drivers. Without drivers they will not have customers.