New auto ride app in town is picking up pace

In 11 months, Namma Yatri has been able to cater to 1 crore-plus commuters; BM speaks to auto drivers and users to understand its pull

The Namma Yatri app that was initiated by the Bengaluru’s Auto Rickshaw Drivers Union (ARDU) and started last year in November, completes 11 months and so far, it has been able to cater to 1 crore-plus rides in the city. A lot of customers choosing for rides in Namma Yatri feel it is beneficial as the drivers accept rides in no time and even the fare is cheaper than other apps.

The app is built by the Juspay technologies with zero commission auto booking. The driver gets direct payment and it is said to be 100% open source. According to ARDU, the app has done very well in the past 11 months. It started operations in April 2022 as a beta version and after six months’ trial, the app was officially launched in November 2022.

Statistics from ARDU reveal that so far, 20,47,000 customers have downloaded the app and close to 96,000 drivers have downloaded it. The auto drivers that are using the app daily so far, are 19,571, and the numbers even go to 22,000 at times. On a daily basis, there are 2 lakh requests but so far the drivers are catering to 94,000 rides on a daily basis.

Pattabhirama PL, Organiser Secretary, ARDU, said, “In the past 11 months, we have got more than 4 crore ride requests. We have been able to cater to 1 crore-plus rides. When we started the app, we would fulfill 20% of the requests that we were getting, but now it has gone up to 37% requests-ride fulfillment. We started off with a minimal number of drivers, but through word of mouth, many have joined in and we are able to cater to more rides. We do not charge the drivers any commission.”

Nishreen Ahmed, a commuter, who has been using the app, told BM that it is beneficial as the rides are accepted in no time. “For instance, when I go to Commercial Street, the auto drivers standing there quote a minimum price of Rs 150-250 to just go for a 2-km distance to my house in Frazer Town. And when I try booking an auto from other apps, the rides are not accepted immediately. But when I started using the Namma Yatri app, the rides were accepted immediately. The fares also seemed to be better than the other aggregator apps,” she said.

Fare well
Pattabhirama pointed out that the ride fare in Namma Yatri is around 10-15% lesser than the other apps.

Another user, Sudeshna T, said, “I travel from HSR Layout to Koramangala daily and getting autos every day would be extremely difficult for me. I had to wait for a long time as many would charge an excess amount. However now with Namma Yatri, I get the rides instantly and I have also so far not experienced the issue of them cancelling the rides after asking for the location. “



While another passenger pointed out that the fares are quite the same as the other auto operating apps, but the availability is better in Namma yatri.

Drivers who BM spoke to said they are able to use the app easily without any glitches and they can take around 20 trips in a day, making close to Rs 1,500-plus in a day, with the money directly going to them.