Cab Driver Interview: Concerns and Working Conditions in Delhi

Summary

• Night-time safety depends on the area. The driver considers areas around India Gate relatively safe, but is reluctant to accept night-time trips to village areas around Delhi, where help may be difficult to obtain. He prefers familiar routes at night.
• Student travel: He considers daytime cab travel generally safe and mentions students sharing their location with family or a trusted person. He advises avoiding very late-night travel. He does not propose a specific government intervention in response to the question about improving student travel.
• Public transport and cab demand: In his view, buses, cabs, and bikes serve different groups of passengers, so bus services do not significantly affect cab demand. He does not separately assess the impact of the Metro or electric buses.
• Commission and earnings: The discussion generally uses a 20% platform commission, although the driver initially says 40%. Fuel and other expenses further reduce take-home earnings. For a ₹200 fare, he agrees with the interviewer's rough estimate of about ₹120 remaining after commission and fuel. These are the interview's figures; see the separately researched commission note below for subsequent subscription models and verification limits.
• Recruitment and registration: He describes vehicle-owning companies interviewing drivers, checking documents, and conducting driving tests. He does not describe a government registration process or provide specific information about Bharat Taxi.
• Reasons for cancellations: Narrow lanes, crowded markets, difficult vehicle access, the risk of disputes, short trips with limited earnings, and the strain of a long working day can make a booking unattractive.
• Trips to IIT Delhi: He says the surrounding area is good for finding another passenger after a drop-off. In the exchange about campus access, he agrees with the interviewer's suggestion that taxis are generally not allowed inside.
• Why students choose cabs: Sharing a cab among two or three students offers comfort and convenient pickup, avoiding the need to reach a Metro station, sometimes by rickshaw. Traffic remains a problem, especially in the rain.
• Surge pricing: He says the platform takes its commission from the higher fare and passes the remainder to the driver, so drivers receive some of the increase.
• Job satisfaction and vehicle ownership: He portrays driving and delivery work as work people often take up because other jobs are unavailable. He believes drivers who own their vehicles have better prospects for saving and increasing earnings than those driving someone else's vehicle. His numerical examples are informal estimates, not verified income or ownership statistics.
• Hours and demand: He confirms a possible cab-driving day from about 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. or midnight, while saying drivers would prefer to finish within ten hours because of fatigue. Bookings are concentrated around morning and evening work hours, with demand also depending on location and, near airports, flight schedules.
• After-interview concerns: In the conversation after the formal interview, the driver called for government support and protections for private-sector drivers, including job security, opportunities for growth, and limits on working hours. He felt that private-sector drivers are overworked and have less time for family life than government-employed drivers. See “After Interview Conversations” at the end for the additional notes supplied by the interview team.
• Context for interpreting the account: The interviewee has not heard of the subscription model mentioned by the interviewer. His answers should be read as his experience and understanding, rather than a verified description of current platform practices or government rules.

Interview context and editorial notes

This interview explores the concerns of cab and taxi drivers in Delhi, particularly New Delhi. According to the context supplied with the transcript, the interviewer is a student pursuing a Master in Public Policy at IIT Delhi.

Source: New_Recording_23_hin.txt
Duration covered: 00:00:01–00:11:54
Speakers: Interviewer (Speaker 0) and Driver (Speaker 1).

The English translation below retains the sequence and substantive content of the supplied text. Repeated words, fillers, and some brief acknowledgments have been consolidated for readability. Topic headings and time ranges have been added for navigation. This translation is based on the supplied text, without access to the original audio. Statements in the interview remain the speakers' own statements. Commission arrangements have been researched separately in the note below; other claims have not been independently verified. Bracketed editorial notes identify ambiguities that could affect interpretation.

Research note: Uber and Ola commission arrangements

Sources checked on 12 September 2026. This note is additional research, not part of the interview.

There is no single verified percentage that can be applied to every Uber or Ola cab booking in Delhi today. The available evidence documents a move from percentage commissions to paid subscription/access plans. A zero-commission plan does not mean the driver pays no platform fees or retains the fare as profit.

Uber's terms also allow exceptions. If Drive Pass is unavailable to a driver or in their territory, Uber's earner terms allow periodic service fees that may be fixed or variable. They also allow applicable fees and other communicated charges to be deducted when Uber processes payments. It would therefore be inaccurate to describe every driver's total deductions as 0%. Uber India Earner Subscription Model Terms, financial terms.

How this relates to the interview: An October 2025 report described Uber's earlier commission as 15–20% per fare and carried Uber's confirmation of its transition to subscriptions across cars, autos and bikes. This offers historical context for the interview's 20% example, but does not establish what this particular driver paid. The interview date and his old earnings statements are unavailable. Neither his initial 40% figure nor his actual past rate can be verified from the supplied material. Business Standard, 10 October 2025.

For interpreting earnings: Per-ride commission, subscription fees, fuel, vehicle rental or owner payments, maintenance, and applicable taxes are distinct costs. Receiving the full fare before these costs is not the same as take-home income. An exact present-day calculation requires the driver's current in-app plan and earnings statement. This note checks platform charging arrangements; it does not establish the legal applicability of the interviewer's reference to an 80% minimum driver share.

Full English transcript

1. Safety while driving at night

00:00:01–00:01:04

Interviewer: All right. The first question is: when you drive at night, do you notice any security concerns? For example, if a woman or a child is travelling, are there any problems along the way? More generally, what safety problems do you face while driving at night?

Driver: It depends on whether the area is safe.

Interviewer: I see.

Driver: For example, the areas around India Gate are still relatively safe. But if we go to other areas, such as the village areas around Delhi, it is not worth taking a trip there. There is no assurance of safety. Suppose something happens to the car, or there is some other problem—there may be no one there who can help keep you safe.

Interviewer: I see.

Driver: That is why, at night, we mostly look at the location and take trips along routes we know.

2. Making student travel easier and safer

00:01:04–00:02:19

Interviewer: All right. The second question is: if you could introduce a change through the government or the transport system to make it easier for students to travel—for example, someone going to college—what would you do? Have you noticed any difficulties students face while commuting or around colleges?

Driver: At night or during the day?

Interviewer: Either. You can talk about night or daytime travel. If you know more about night-time travel, talk about that. It is an open question.

Driver: All right. During the day, are we talking about students wanting to travel by cab?

Interviewer: Yes, assume they are taking a cab—a car.

Driver: A car, then. During the day, it is safe. There should not be any particular problem. Students also have phones. They share their location with their family or the relevant person. So there is no particular problem during the day, but there can be problems at night.

Interviewer: I see.

Driver: It is better not to travel at night. Students generally do not have such a pressing need to travel very late at night. Up to around ten, eleven, or twelve at night, it is still all right. But after that—

Interviewer: It becomes difficult.

Driver: Yes, it becomes more difficult.

3. Effect of the Metro and electric buses on cab work

00:02:20–00:03:07

Interviewer: Let me look at the next question. Has the arrival of the Metro, or the new electric buses, affected your work as a driver?

Driver: No.

Interviewer: Suppose you are driving a regular taxi or an Uber. Do you get fewer passengers, more passengers, or about the same number?

Driver: No, look: bus passengers are a different group.

Interviewer: I see.

Driver: The person who travels by cab is different. Someone who takes the bus will not switch to a cab, and someone who takes a cab will not switch to the bus. Someone who uses a bike will not switch to the bus either.

Interviewer: I see.

Driver: For people who travel by bus, the bus is what suits them. So it does not affect us.

4. Platform commission and take-home earnings

00:03:07–00:03:56

Interviewer: All right. If someone drives through a cab app such as Uber or Ola, the material here says the government may have made a rule that drivers should receive at least 80% of the fare. Have you noticed anything like that?

Driver: There is nothing like that at the moment, as far as I know.

Interviewer: Do you have an idea of how it works? For example, if I pay Uber ₹100, how much do you receive, and how much does Uber get?

Driver: They deduct 40% as commission.

Interviewer: They deduct 20%. I see.

Driver: After the deduction, we still have to pay for CNG and everything else. So we do not actually have the full ₹80 left in our hands. CNG also comes out of that amount.

Everything has to be covered from those ₹80. If even ₹40 of that ₹80 ends up in our pocket, that is still all right.

Interviewer: All right.

[Editorial note: The supplied text records the driver saying “40%” and the interviewer immediately saying “20%.” The subsequent ₹80 example and the driver's later answer on surge pricing use 20%. Both figures are retained because the discrepancy cannot be resolved from the text alone.]

5. Driver recruitment, registration, and government schemes

00:03:57–00:04:43

Interviewer: Are there any government schemes—for example, the material here mentions Bharat Taxi—or somewhere people go to register as drivers? Or do people simply register on an app and start driving?

Is there a process where someone goes to a government portal and says, “I am going to drive a car or taxi”? Or is having a driving licence enough to get started? Is there a process?

Driver: The company—the company that owns the vehicles—conducts interviews and all of that. They collect all the documents and also take a driving test. They do all the testing. The government does not—

Interviewer: So it is not involved in that?

Driver: The government has no role in this.

Interviewer: All right.

6. Why drivers cancel bookings

00:04:45–00:06:04

Interviewer: The next question says some people complain that drivers cancel a lot. What might be the reasons for that?

Driver: There are many reasons for cancelling—ten, twenty different reasons.

Interviewer: I see.

Driver: Look at the location. Suppose your home is in a good area, in an apartment complex where a car can reach you. Now imagine you are driving the car yourself. Would you want to take it into narrow lanes and alleyways where there could be arguments or trouble? [Laughter.] You would not, would you?

You would also think: What is the location like? Is it an apartment complex? Can the car get in and out? It is not as though you would simply take your car into a crowded market because someone booked it from there.

Even if you did go in once, remember that you have to drive for fourteen or fifteen hours. That one trip could leave you mentally exhausted. You end up cancelling, getting into arguments, and dealing with the crowded market as well.

Interviewer: So drivers avoid those places.

Driver: And the person may not even be travelling two, four, or five kilometres. How much would you earn from it anyway? Leave the earnings aside for a moment: if someone calls you inside a market, there may barely be room even for a bicycle or a bike—perhaps only a bike rider could get through. A car cannot go everywhere.

There needs to be a proper route for the car. Why does not everyone buy a car? Fifty per cent of people cannot buy one because there is no space—space to drive it or to park it. That is the concern.

[Editorial note: The original sentence about bicycle and bike access is self-correcting and inconsistent. Its apparent point is that crowded market lanes can be inaccessible to cars. The “50%” figure is the driver's informal assertion.]

7. Return bookings near IIT Delhi and earnings on a sample fare

00:06:04–00:06:59

Interviewer: Suppose the passenger needs to be dropped at IIT Delhi. If I book a cab, is there an advantage for the driver in going there? Can the driver get another ride back? Sometimes drivers think, “If I go there, will I find someone for the return journey?”

Driver: Yes, you can get another passenger because of the area. The location makes that possible.

Interviewer: I see.

Driver: It is a good area.

Interviewer: Suppose I am paying you somewhere between ₹200 and ₹300. How much goes towards CNG or petrol, and how much is deducted? Do you have an estimate of the fuel cost and Uber's deduction—20%, or whatever the percentage is?

For example, if the fare is ₹200, how much do you think you would have left after accounting for CNG and the other deductions?

Driver: Estimate roughly half, or a little more than half—something over ₹100.

Interviewer: ₹120?

Driver: Yes, roughly that.

Interviewer: I see. Okay.

8. Subscription models

00:07:04–00:07:19

Interviewer: The material here says some apps now charge a subscription instead of a commission. Have you heard anything about that? No?

Driver: No, not yet.

9. Surge pricing during rain

00:07:21–00:07:58

Interviewer: Sometimes, when it is raining, you open the app and it says the fare is higher. Does Uber keep that extra amount, or does it give it to you?

Suppose the fare from here to the college is ₹200 when it is not raining, but ₹300 when it rains.

Driver: Yes.

Interviewer: Out of that ₹300, do you receive more, or does Uber keep the increase?

Driver: They take their 20% commission, and then give us the rest.

Interviewer: I see. So you do receive some of the increase.

Driver: Yes.

Interviewer: All right. That covers that.

10. Bookings around the college and access to campus

00:08:02–00:08:22

Interviewer: So, basically, drivers should be able to find passengers around the college.

Driver: Yes, they do.

Interviewer: All right. When we went there, we were stopped at the gate, or a little way from it. They probably do not let taxis go inside, do they?

Driver: No.

Interviewer: All right.

[Editorial note: The gate referred to here is the IIT Delhi gate. The interviewer's description of exactly where they were stopped in relation to that gate is unclear in the supplied text.]

11. Why students choose cabs, and the effect of traffic

00:08:28–00:09:17

Interviewer: Why do you think a student would choose a cab over the Metro or a bus? [Laughter.]

Driver: Sometimes two or three students share a cab and travel comfortably together. They do not want the hassle of getting to the Metro station. People look for the most direct, convenient option: avoid going to the station, avoid catching the Metro—

Interviewer: And travel comfortably throughout.

Driver: To get to the Metro, you may also have to take a rickshaw.

Interviewer: Yes.

Driver: You have to go out to reach the Metro, whereas a cab comes to you.

Interviewer: That is right.

Driver: Provided there is a suitable road to reach you.

Interviewer: There is traffic on the way to the college too, right?

Driver: Yes, there is traffic.

Interviewer: Sometimes it takes forty minutes during peak hours.

Driver: Yes, traffic jams can happen anywhere, and they become much worse in the rain.

12. Job satisfaction and the importance of owning a vehicle

00:09:19–00:10:52

Interviewer: Based on your own experience, or people you have seen who have been driving for Uber for a long time, what is their opinion of it? Are they satisfied or happy with the work?

Driver: No. If this work made everyone happy, everyone would be doing delivery work. [Laughter.] A person does it out of necessity. If they cannot find another job, they do this.

Interviewer: So it would be better if they could find work somewhere else.

Driver: Yes, that would be better. Nobody wants to do delivery work. Suppose I say that, out of a hundred people, fifty per cent own their vehicles. Those people are able to save something and bring home a decent amount of money.

But someone who does not own the vehicle cannot do much. And these days, bringing home a salary of ₹20,000–₹25,000 is not much.

Interviewer: The next question is related to that. Of the drivers you know, how many own their vehicles?

Driver: Among the people I know, only a few would own one. Most do not. Not everyone can afford their own car.

Those who have managed to buy one are doing all right. They are working, and their situation is different.

Interviewer: I see.

Driver: But someone driving another person's vehicle is in a different position. They would not want to remain in delivery work.

Someone who has bought their own vehicle would want to grow in this line of work. They might think, “If I am making ₹70,000–₹80,000 now, perhaps I can make ₹100,000.”

Interviewer: Yes.

Driver: Someone who owns their vehicle can progress. But not everyone can buy one. Not everyone can afford the instalments.

[Editorial note: The driver uses the word “delivery” several times while discussing cab work. It is retained because the text does not establish whether he means delivery work specifically or driving-based work more broadly. His “50%” example is followed by a statement that only a few drivers he knows own vehicles. The income figures have no explicit time period in the source, and the ₹70,000–₹100,000 example does not specify gross earnings or take-home income.]

13. Working hours and fatigue

00:10:52–00:11:25

Interviewer: How many hours do you usually drive? What is a normal average day?

Driver: As an estimate, say from ten until eleven or twelve.

Interviewer: From ten in the morning until eleven or twelve at night?

Driver: Yes, for a cab driver. But most people would prefer to finish their work and return within ten hours.

Interviewer: All right.

Driver: A person cannot really manage much beyond that. You could keep working for twenty-four hours, but then you would miss work the next day.

Interviewer: You would miss the next day's work.

14. Peak booking times and the importance of location

00:11:25–00:11:54

Interviewer: The last question is: when do drivers get the most bookings? Suppose they work the full day, from ten until eleven or twelve.

Driver: It is mainly in the morning and evening, around people's working hours.

Interviewer: It probably also depends on the location—for example, being near the airport.

Driver: Yes, it definitely depends on the location. At the airport, it depends on when flights arrive and depart. Everything depends on those timings.

Interviewer: So you have to plan around the timing. Both location and time matter.

Driver: Yes. You have to take all of that into account.

After Interview Conversations

The following account is based on additional notes supplied by the interview team about their conversation with the driver after the formal interview. It is a summary, not a verbatim transcript.

After the interview, the driver independently raised the need for reforms and protections for drivers working in the private sector. He wanted government support to improve job security, create opportunities for growth, and place limits on working hours.

He contrasted his understanding of private-sector drivers' working conditions with those of drivers employed by the government, describing the difference as substantial. In his view, private-sector drivers in India are overworked and do not have enough time to enjoy family life or spend time with their families, compared with government-employed drivers. His concern was therefore about both employment conditions and the effect of long working hours on life outside work.