5 months after launch, Bharat Taxi has onboarded 7 lakh drivers. But rides are few & the road ahead long

Kumar’s experience underlines the challenge Bharat Taxi faces.Bharat Taxi pick up point for mobile application users at Terminal 3 of Delhi Airport. | Bharat Taxi ad on incentives for drivers. | Udit Bubna/ThePrint

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Registrations to rides journey

In the first five months of its existence,the platform has onboarded nearly seven lakh drivers, but turning those registrations into regular rides remains a big challenge.Backed by the Ministry of Cooperation, Bharat Taxi was launched by Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah in February as a cooperative alternative to private ride-hailing companies. The idea was to create a platform where drivers would not pay heavy commissions to cab aggregators, receive direct payments and eventually become owners by sharing the cooperative’s profits.The services were initially launched in Delhi-NCR, but has since expanded to parts of Gujarat, Mumbai, Lucknow and Chandigarh. Currently, nearly 60 percent of its seven lakh registered drivers are from Delhi-NCR and Gujarat.Bharat Taxi and Delhi Traffic Police kiosk of pre-paid taxi booking area at Terminal 1 of Delhi airport. | Udit Bubna/ThePrint