On Friday, Ola and Uber cabs were available in most parts of the city

Bengaluru: Ten days after thousands of drivers signed up with taxi aggregators Ola and Uber went off the roads, the indefinite strike seems to have split them with some slowly making their way back to work.

On Friday, cabs were available in most parts of the city bringing relief to many commuters who were finding it tough to travel to office. However, this also meant that traffic jams, which were almost missing from the city for the past 10 days, were back.

“My cab arrived within 5 minutes. Last week, the wait time was as long as 20 minutes and even then, there was always the danger of being stopped midway and asked to get off,” said Ranjitha S., an HR professional.

Driver unions, however, are continuing the strike. On Thursday, a large group of drivers who had congregated at Freedom Park demanded government action against the aggregators. They are seeking support from the BJP and the JD(S).

But for many, the appeal to politicians seems to have taken the sting out of the protest. “The government has already said it will not intervene. What is the use of approaching politicians? We need to put pressure on the companies to hold talks. Many drivers have financial commitments. As a result, we decided to get back to work,” said Raju, who was with a group of drivers at Freedom Park on Friday.

While both companies have not held any talks officially with the protesting workers, there has been an increase in tariff over the past two days, which might be a reason for drivers returning to work. Sources at Ola said that over 80 per cent of their fleet was operational on Friday.

‘Shifting away from startup mode’

Addressed the ongoing strike, Uber India President Amit Jain on Friday, in a blog post, admitting that incentives had reduced but stated that the company is keeping a close watch on the vehicle financing aspect to ensure that driver-partners did not default on loans.

He explained that the incentives, which were offered when the service was introduced, are being rolled back as sustained high demand enabled the company to shift from ‘startup mode to a more sustainable business model and begin reducing higher levels of incentives and invest more in drivers and products for the long term’.