BluSmart, an electric vehicle (EV) ride-hailing company, has come out with a new fare structure that has different pricing for “relaxed hour” and “rush hour”, bringing in surge pricing like bigger cab aggregators Uber and Ola.
"Starting 8.01.2024, we are introducing a new pricing structure for different times of the day...during these rush hours you will notice a slight increase in fares as there is increased traffic that might lead to longer trip durations," the firm said in a statement.
The rush hours for city rides would be from 8.30 am- to 10.30 am and between 5.30 pm to 8 pm. The rush hours for the airport will be from 3.30 am to 6.30 am and from 9 pm to 1 am, the firm, which operates in Delhi and Bengaluru, said.
The decision comes after transport departments of various states, including the national capital Delhi, recently met representatives of ride-hailing firms to review surge pricing.
According to the draft of the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Scheme, 2023, which was approved by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in October, ride-hailing firms have to comply with taxi fares notified by the transport department. There is no provision for surge pricing in the draft policy.
BluSmart's website claims the firm does not have surge pricing as it promises “better customer experience (zero ride denials, zero surge pricing, high quality service, highest standards of safety and sanitisation).”
The company's co-founders, too, had promised a “no-surge” pricing policy on the X platform, formerly Twitter.
Responding to unhappy netizens, cofounder Anmol Jaggi sought to differentiate the move from surge pricing.
"Surge price is unpredictable, our pricing is just a true and transparent reflection of effort by driver partners during rush hours. Surge is non-transparent & arbitrary, what @BluSmartIndia has done is to make it clear & upfront on what the pricing would be," he wrote on X.
The rush-hour fare would be about 15 percent higher and the so-called relaxed hour cheaper, he said.
BluSmart in December of 2023 raised around $24 million in funding. The investment came from existing investors, including BP Ventures, as well as contributions from the founders and the leadership team.
Founded in December 2019, BluSmart procures its cars from Tata Motors and aims to expand its fleet to 10,000 vehicles by March 2024, doubling its count of 5,000 cars.
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