How Namma Yatri Is Changing The Rules Of The Ride-Hailing Business

“Our first principle in product is build for yourself,” says Vimal Kumar, founder of payment operating system JusPay, which built and manages Namma Yatri, Bangalore’s trending mobility app that has upturned the city’s ride hailing business. But how do you build an autorickshaw-driver-friendly app for yourself? “We bought autos and starting ferrying customers,” says Kumar.

Magizhan Selvan, chief product officer, has logged around 200 rides as a driver on various ride hailing platforms. He says he first decided he wanted to see what it takes to earn Rs 2,000 a day, a target for many drivers who want to have money left over after meeting their EMI and fuel costs. “I kept calculating how much I need to earn per ride and that’s when I realised Bangalore traffic is super crazy.” It would usually take him 10 hours of back-to-back rides to hit this target.

As a driver, he often questioned why pricing was only distance-based and didn’t take into account the time required to reach a destination. “I understood why drivers cancel trips to high-traffic areas. I started calling and negotiating with customers who had longer pick-up distances, ‘Will you wait? Only then I will come’.”

Eventually, he decided to stop worrying about targets and listen to podcasts while driving. “Now I find the journeys slightly therapeutic,” he says. Selvan discovered that people have a lot of personal conversations in autos and that they are often empathetic to drivers, proffering tips without being asked. One rider figured out who he was, took a selfie and posted about their meeting on LinkedIn. 

Anyone can track Namma Yatri’s robust numbers on its live dashboard. The less than a year old service just crossed 5 million rides and recently started making 1 crore in daily earnings for its drivers. It’s the next best transport experiment in this traffic-logged city after the state government’s month-old free bus ride scheme for women. Industry watchers estimate that Namma Yatri’s market share is already slightly under 20% of all rides booked on apps. It’s worrying big competitors so much that there are reports that some have approached the GST Council asking why the app doesn’t pay GST.

But unlike its competition, Namma Yatri’s customers are autodrivers not passengers. The fare you pay goes directly to the driver. The amber and green logo, a graphic representation of two cupped palms facing each other and signifying the symbiotic relationship between citizens and service providers, represents an app by drivers, for people. 

From next month the company plans to collect a daily Rs 25 subscription from drivers for unlimited rides. The goal is to try to drive this fee even lower. “We want to build this like systems software, not applications software, pushing down costs to make it as efficient as possible,” says Kumar, who believes that the future lies in shared autos. “If drivers have to earn more they have to serve more customers and customers have to pay less.” 

The app was built using the open source Beckn protocol, technology that democratises digital commerce and makes the internet a ‘small-business-friendly’ place. Its first partner was Bangalore’s Auto Rickshaw Drivers’ Union that has since announced MetroMitra, another collaborative venture that will offer last-mile connectivity to metro users. A volunteer at the Beckn Foundation introduced ARDU and JusPay—which had built and managed a similar app in Kochi.

Kumar says the Bangalore experiment has been more successful than the one in Kochi because the bigger city thinks differently. “The culture of using open source software started in the 1980s, it’s not new. The support for Namma Yatri shows people are comfortable with it and that they feel happy for it.”

Namma Yatri is the first driver-centric offering. “Other platforms have always pampered the customers,” says Shan Shanmugavel, chief growth officer, who adds that drivers need three key things: “higher earnings, some level of agency and respect.” Drivers have the flexibility to add upto 10% of the base fare determined by the state government; and the app can urge you to ‘add a tip to find a quicker ride’. “Drivers tell us they feel technologically enabled and not at anyone’s mercy,” says Shanmugavel. As the umpteenth player in the market, the only way Namma Yatri can work, he adds, is if “people believe in it”. 

Drivers certainly do feel a sense of ownership about Namma Yatri. “We give customers and drivers the same message: It’s your app, you have to make it a success,” says Rudra Murthy, general secretary of ARDU. “Drivers ask for stickers to advertise that they are part of the network and customers are our biggest marketers. There are no middlemen.” 

Drivers get more feedback and information than other apps including live ward-level demand. Plus, the app innovates based on their feedback. “Some wanted Kannada, some who can’t read wanted a pincode. We may add voice for those who don’t read,” says Selvan. Other suggestions have included immediate announcements when users cancel rides and a shorter pickup distance. 

Some drivers, like Nagalakshmi SP who has been riding an auto for three years, become family. The 41-year-old single mother of two lost her job during Covid. She knew how to drive a two-wheeler and figured, that in addition to giving her work, an auto would also help her transport her children safely. She’s been with Namma Yatri since day one, and now she’s training more women to join the ranks. “Being a trainer gives me a really good feeling,” she says. “I feel proud that I can help change people’s lives.” 

Namma Yatri’s biggest success is exactly that: showing Bangalore the potential for change.

Priya Ramani is a Bengaluru-based journalist and is on the editorial board of Article-14.com.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of BQ Prime or its editorial team.