Homegrown mobility platform Rapido is working on a new offering that will allow Delhi Metro passengers to purchase a unified ticket covering their entire journey—from home to destination—including the metro leg.Rapido co-founder Aravind Sanka told FE that the company will facilitate both the first-mile ride from the user’s location to the metro station, and the last-mile drop from the metro to the final destination.
“The long-term plan is to offer a single ticket that includes the Rapido bike ride and the metro fare, making the entire journey seamless,” he said, without disclosing a specific launch timeline.”We will introduce it once our metro ticketing feature gains traction,” he added. Currently, Rapido allows users to book Delhi Metro tickets directly through its app, enabled via the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).
Separately, the company will also offer rides to and from metro stations at a fixed fee of Rs 25 for three kms. It will also have designated pick up and drop off points at select metro stations in Delhi.”We are also making the first ride free for all users who are using Rapido app to book their metro ticket,” he said.
Rapido is also entering the food delivery space and is currently piloting the service in some locations in Bangaluru. Under the offering, the company is likely to use the existing riders to deliver food as well. Analysts have suggested that this would require careful monitoring and might cause delays at a time when customers are increasingly prefering quicker deliveries. Sanka said that the idea behind using the same drivers for rides, food delivery and logistics is to provide them more opportunities to earn money. “We will hire more drivers depending on the demand in a region,” he said. However, Rapido currently has no plans to enter three-wheeler and four-wheeler logistics and will continue to bet on delivering parcels via two-wheelers in near future.