Ravi Prasad, an IT employee in Bellandur, who normally books an auto every day to and from office through ride-hailing players such as Ola and Uber, recently switched to ‘Namma Yatri’ app. Mr. Prasad said he started to use this app after many auto drivers requested him to download the app every time he travelled.
“Whenever I book an auto on Ola and Uber, the auto drivers tell me about the ‘Namma Yatri’ app and they request me to download the app since many auto drivers have switched to this app and the availability of the autos have increased. I have been using the app for the last month. The fare is cheapest compared to other apps,” Mr. Prasad said.
The Namma Yatri app is a product of Bengaluru’s Auto Rickshaw Drivers’ Union (ARDU). Built by Juspay Technologies and backed by the Beckn Foundation (by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani), it was launched in November 2022 in partnership with the city’s auto drivers. It is currently an open source and does not take any commission from drivers and also available in Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). ONDC is a technology platform backed by the Union government to facilitate direct seller-to-customer transactions, cutting out middlemen.
