"We've reached the destination," said the LOST WANDERER
"Don't be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart," said Roy T. Bennett. But bike taxi drivers around the capital continue to disagree as they move to different corners of the city driven by fear with the hope of finding riders.
Rapido, a leading bike taxi provider in India has over 25 million customers and over 1.5 million driver partners. It does close to 20 million orders per month and aims to serve over 50 million customers by the end of this year. But behind these massive and alluring figures is a pain no one notices or cares about.
On a lousy Friday evening, as I was leaving from college, I realized it was too late and dark to walk to the nearest metro station, so I decided to book a Rapido. After waiting for a few minutes, the driver arrived with a smiling face and we started our journey. I started a casual conversation but I did not expect what followed. Behind a happy smiling face was a stressed being, with a morose heart and a pocket full of worry about his daily earning, he was desperate to share his plight with someone, hopefully, someone who won't meet him ever again.
"My daily earnings range from 750-1000 rupees and the fuel expenses cost around 30-40% of a particular ride," said the wanderer. He continued, "The peak hour is a very small window of 8-10 AM and 6-10 PM and I have to move to different areas all day long in search of rides without any revenue generation at all. Any damage to the vehicle is also my responsibility and the food that I mostly avoid in day time is also an expense. I often try to avoid it by surviving on my body fat."
The small number of customers is attributed to the lower status given to bike rides, the chilly winters, thundering monsoons, and hot summers, the disadvantage of not being able to travel with luggage on bikes, and the less security and comfort they offer as compared to car rides. Additionally, women usually avoid taking a bike ride and it reflects in the data, there are only 5% women riders and nearly 20% women customers.
Just a week later, I heard the news of the Delhi government banning bike taxis in the capital region. That smiling face rushed to my mind and stunned my senses. I was not sure if I should be sad or happy about it and somehow I feel like he must have felt the same. On one hand, this decision will abruptly put an end to his only source of employment. But on the other hand, it made him free, he will no longer need to worry about skipping his meals, and he won't have any other option anymore.
A pain too small for a profit-making organization and a pain big enough to make individuals compromise their basic needs perfectly summarizes this new unicorn to be. Cheap unskilled labor who go miles without earning, hoping to find work. A driver who is happy by guiding his rider and his employer towards their destination and dreams.
