It was another evening that I decided to spare my bike and give the ride-sharing facility on my app another chance. Given the reasonable commute distance of five kilometers from work to home, the liberty to choose between an occasional bus journey, a solo car ride, a pooling option and an auto has always come in handy.
Then I soon realised it wasn’t just any other day; a union minister had just arrived and the traffic was choc-o-bloc. I was mentally prepared to pay a bomb for the ride when I spotted a series of miniature bikes on the popular hailing app. Its pillion-riding facility recently launched with pomp was just catching up in the city. The option to use its ‘moto’ facility is on when other means of transport across the app are either occupied or beyond a permissible distance from the app-user. I was still reluctant, though the miser in me wasn’t. The booking was made and the bike was to arrive in a few minutes.
It wasn’t difficult to spot the biker maneuvering a Bajaj CT 100 amid the traffic — the prominent display of the cab major on his helmet and the number plate helped. He insisted that I wear the helmet too— not a bad start, I thought. Being a passenger on a stranger’s bike felt strange though. The biker in me knew the gaps among the stream of vehicles to be tapped to scrape past the traffic; I just hoped he did too. He did.
Beyond the ambiguity
While the awkward silences in a cab ride can be done away with a book or the mobile, I decided to ask the biker a few questions without sounding over-inquisitive. How did he turn a rider? How much does it pay him? How does the model work?
News of these bikes having registration issues had just hit headlines. That ambiguity is resolved, he informed.
As we conversed, I was left impressed with the biker’s adherence to civic rules;. He talked about giving up his previous job; and spoke enthusiastically of his long, though strenuous, rides towards Kondapur and Gachibowli too.
I was clearly happy with the ride; its easy availability, the economics and the journey. What seemed a disadvantage however, both for the ‘passenger’ and the biker, was the trouble of going through GPS during the ride, it could have been an issue had I not known the route towards the destination.
Nevertheless the ride was more or less done, I was charged ₹50, not a bad bargain to reach home, equally profitable for the biker over a 5 km span.
My female neighbours were curious and felt this could be a boon for them had there been a she-moto ride. When she-cabs, she-shuttles are around, why not a she-biker who could make some money out of a ride? Lots of questions, but few doubts about the advantages.
