India’s first government cab service Bharat Taxi starts from today:No commission to be given to drivers like Ola-Uber, Home Minister Amit Shah will launch

The country’s first cooperative cab taxi service ‘Bharat Taxi’ will be launched today. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will launch it in Delhi. The biggest feature of this new service is that no commission will be taken from drivers and they will be stakeholders or owners of this platform themselves. According to the Ministry of Cooperation, the aim of ‘Bharat Taxi’ is to free drivers from the model of private aggregator companies. The taxi trial was started on December 2 in Delhi and Rajkot in Gujarat, which has been successful. Retirement Savings and Driver Support System will be provided During the launch, Amit Shah will honour 6 high-performing drivers (called ‘Sarathi’). These drivers will also be given company share certificates. The honoured drivers will receive ₹5 lakh accidental and ₹5 lakh family health insurance coverage. Additionally, features like retirement savings and driver support system have been added for all drivers joining the platform. Relief from zero commission and surge pricing Private companies like Ola and Uber typically charge 20% to 30% commission from drivers’ earnings. In contrast, Bharat Taxi will operate on a ‘zero-commission’ model. This means whatever the driver earns will go directly to them. Along with this, the good news for customers is that there will be no ‘surge-pricing’ system (higher fares during peak hours). This will allow passengers to get taxis at affordable rates. Target to reach every city in next 2 years Bharat Taxi aims to launch in all states and major cities of the country in the next two years. For this, it will be integrated with the government’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). Support centers for drivers have also been started at 7 major locations in Delhi. Who will operate Bharat Taxi? This is a subscription-based model, which will be operated by Sahkar Taxi Cooperative Limited. It was established in June with an amount of ₹300 crore. This app-based service is part of Digital India. It will have an operating council, with Amul MD Jayen Mehta as Chairman and NCDC Deputy Managing Director Rohit Gupta as Vice Chairman. There are also 8 other members who are associated with various cooperative societies across the country. The first meeting of this board has already taken place on October 16. Understand the benefits of Bharat Taxi in QA format: 1. How can you avail this service? Bharat Taxi app will be similar to Ola-Uber, which can be downloaded from app stores in November. The app will be available in Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and English. 2. What are the benefits for drivers? Drivers will get 100% earnings from every ride. They will only need to pay a daily, weekly or monthly fee, which will be very nominal. 3. What will be the role of women Sarthis? Meaning women drivers. 100 women will join in the first phase. Their number will be increased to 15,000 by 2030. Free training and special insurance will be provided from November 15. 4. How will this service progress until 2030?