After cabbies’ strike, Baxi launches app for drivers in Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon

Baxi, a private taxi rental company, will launch a mobile app on Thursday targeting cab drivers of app-based taxi services who are disgruntled with their employers.

Baxi, a private taxi rental company, will launch a mobile app on Thursday targeting cab drivers of app-based taxi services who are disgruntled with their employers.

The app will be launched in six cities — Gurgaon, New Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Bengaluru. (HT File)

The app will be launched in six cities — Gurgaon, New Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Bengaluru.

Baxi officials claim this app will offer fixed fares without surge pricing and allow cab drivers to pick passengers directly from the road, outside high traffic areas such as offices, malls and residential complexes. The fares will be regulated by a committee, comprising members of driver unions in these cities.

“The fares will be competitive and will allow drivers to earn a comfortable amount every month without artificial subsidies that currently being provided by cab aggregators,” a Baxi official said.

Drivers’ union had been on strike across the country demanding revision of fares, life insurance for drivers and non-preference for taxis owned by the cab aggregators such as Ola and Uber.

“Our bike taxi business has turned profitable in the last few months. When we saw the struggle of the cab drivers, because of a flawed business model.....We used our learning of the past year and a half in the business to tweak the partner mobile app to cater to cab drivers,” Ashutosh Johri, CEO and co-founder of Baxi, said.

Baxi officials claim that they have signed agreements with the respective cab unions stating, among other things, that they will not charge any commission from the drivers for using the app, for perpetuity.

Baxi was launched in Gurgaon in December, 2015, as the country’s first on-demand motorcycle taxi company.