India’s first government-backed cab service, Bharat Taxi, is now officially here. Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah launched the app at an event at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Thursday, February 5. The new cab service, which uses a cooperative model, aims to provide better pay for drivers while maintaining transparent fares for customers. It is positioning itself as an alternative to existing cab aggregators like Ola, Uber and Rapido.

Currently, Bharat Taxi is available for all users in Delhi-NCR and Gujarat. The plan is to expand the service across the country within three years. “In three years, Bharat Taxi will be launched across the country from Kashmir to Kanniyakumari and from Dwarka to Kamakhya,” Minister Shah said while formally launching the app.

Bharat Taxi: Big promise of cheap fares

A big point of discussion regarding Bharat Taxi is its promise of offering cheap fares. The service is using a co-operative model, where each driver or “sarathi” has five shares in the organization. Given that they “own” the app, they do not pay the app any commission on a ride basis. This is different from Ola or Uber, and potentially means cheaper fares for riders. However drivers will have to pay a fixed daily fee of Rs 30 to access the mobile application.

Officially, the people behind the app have indicated that Bharat Taxi fares could be up to 30 percent lower than Ola, Uber and Rapido fares. While these are early days and the reality of fares will become clear in the coming weeks and months, we found that for now, fares are similar to what we’ve seen in other cab apps. In fact, in some cases, India Taxi is more expensive.

For example, to understand the fares, we booked a ride from Noida 18 to RK Puram in Delhi and saw the same prices on four different apps. On Uber, the ride fare that was quoted was Rs 329 for Uber Go and Rs 379 for Premier. Ola showed the fare for Mini at Rs 367 and Prime at Rs 371. Rapido listed Rs 361 for its economy cab and Rs 432 for the premium option, while Bharat Taxi quoted Rs 389 for the economy cab and Rs 448 for the sedan.

In other words, at least for now, we are not seeing very cheap fares on Bharat Taxi, although this could also be due to the somewhat aggressive stance of apps like Ola and Uber. These are private companies and in the past we have seen that when faced with competition they heavily subsidize their service in the short term.

In other words, when the matter calms down in the coming months, the picture of Bharat Taxi fares will become clear.

One difference that we have noticed in Bharat Taxi app compared to others is the waiting time. Other apps show how soon a particular cab will be available, but Bharat Taxi does not. Not that Ola and Uber are precise about their “waiting times”. But it’s still helpful for users to see some type of temporary wait time.

How to use Bharat Taxi App

Like other cab apps, Bharat Taxi app is now available on Google Play Store for Android users. iPhone users can find it on the Apple App Store.

Once you install and open the app, you’ll find four onboarding slides titled: “Swadeshi,” “Co-operation,” “Safety,” and “Services,” followed by a “Get Started” button at the bottom. Upon tapping it, users are asked to enter their mobile number. This number is then verified through an OTP. Once the verification is done, you are logged in to the app and you are taken to the home screen from where you can book a cab.

When it comes to services offered, the app offers four services: the ability to buy metro train tickets, the ability to book cabs on demand, the ability to hire cabs for a certain number of hours (maximum 12 hours), and the ability to book intercity rides. The “Profile” tab in the app contains user information along with Bharat Taxi details and customer support options.

The app offers multiple ride categories including AC and non-AC cabs, XL cabs, auto and bike taxis, reflecting the functionality and flexibility of established players. It also has a modern interface that is similar to other ride-hailing services.

The new ride-hailing platform also includes a built-in safety feature including a dedicated helpline. This facility is available in Delhi with the help of Delhi Police. The platform claims that all its drivers go through a verification process to enhance passenger safety and security. However, earlier we have found that almost all India taxi drivers are also using other cab apps to provide their services. In other words, the pool of drivers available across all cab apps is more or less the same.